A The Outsiders Story OLD STORY DELAYED
by Danicakesx
Summary: This is a story about Dani, who is a girl who doesn't really have any friends. One day, after she gets jumped by some Socs, she meets Sodapop Curtis and then he introduces her to the gang. Mostly everything in her life changes after that.
1. Chapter 1

"Get Off!" I screamed, trying to get the Soc off me. "Shut this chick up, Randy!" The Soc ordered. Randy, the dark haired Soc, had a container of vodka in his hand. He poured some of the vodka onto my face, and it slowly dripped into my mouth. I spit the vodka in my mouth out at the soc on me, and he cringed. The Soc suddenly pulled out a opened switchblade, and put the blade up to my neck. He was slowly moving it across my neck, and it started to bleed. I finally managed to get loose, and the Soc dropped his switchblade. I crawled over to the switchblade, and picked it up. I pinned the Soc down on the ground, and put the blade on his neck.

Randy, the other Soc, got scared and ran away. The cut that Soc gave me was bleeding alot, and dripping onto the Soc's yellow, cashmere sweater. I quickly moved the blade across his neck, and it made a small cut. "You give?" I asked. The Soc merely nodded. I let him go, and we both stood up. I wiped the remaining blood on the switchblade onto my jeans, and the Soc extended his hand for me to give it back. I stared at him blankly. "You aren't gonna give it back, are ya?" He asked. "No," I replied quietly, "I'm not gonna give it back." I closed the switchblade and put it into the back pocket of my jeans.

Suddenly, a handsome, gold-brown haired teenager ran over. He was dressed in a light blue t-shirt, and hat. I assumed he worked at the DX gas station, becuase he had 'DX' on his shirt and hat. "What'd this damn Soc do to ya?" He asked. "I have a name, grease," The Soc said roughly, "It's Bob." "Thats great," The teenager said sarcasticly, "My names Sodapop Curtis." Bob started to laugh. "Sodapop? You're name is Sodapop?! That's just hilarious. What a stupid name." Sodapop glared at Bob. "Bob, shut the hell up. Why are you still here anyways?" I said sassily. Bob gave me a dirty look, and started walking down the street. Sodapop and I walked the other way. "So, whats your name?" He asked. "Uh.. Oh.. It's Dani," I paused. "You work at the DX, right?" "Yeah. I do. I work there with my buddy Steve Randle," Soda said, "You can come meet him and the gang if ya wanna, they're all at my place." "Okay. I ain't got nowhere to go anyways." I said, looking down at my shoes. Sodapop cocked an eyebrow, and said, "Why don'tchya have anywere to go?" I replied quietly, "Well, I have my own place. But I'm always alone. See, my parents died. Well, I dunno if my Mom is. She ran out on my Dad a coupla years ago and she's never came back. My Dad died from a heart attack 2 years ago... I've been livin' by myself for awhile now." "Aww shoot. My parents are dead, too," Soda said, "I've lived with my brothers, Darry and Ponyboy since they've died."

I nodded. I didn't really like talking about my parents, but sometimes I guess have to. "So," Soda said, "Are ya still in school?" I replied, "Yeah. I'm only 16. I rarely even go to school though.. I only go to see my friends and stuff." Soda nodded. We finally got to Soda's house. It was a white house, with a rusty metal fence in the front. It seemed like a nice house. My house is okay too. "Well, this is my place. Come on in." Soda said as he opened the door. I walked in slowly, and saw 6 other guys in the house. "Well, Dani, this is the gang. That's Pony and Darry, my brothers, and thats Dallas Winston, Steve Randle, Two-Bit Mathews and Johnny Cade." Sodapop said, pointing at people. "Hey.." I said shyly. "Hey." Everyone said together.

"Well, sit down." Soda said, as he sat on a over-stuffed chair. I sat down akwardly on the couch, next to Dallas. He looked real dangerous. He had dark hair and eyes. He was wearing a leather jacket with a shirt underneath, jeans and black boots. He scooted closer to me. "Hey, baby. Want me to show ya a good time?" He asked as he put his arm around me. "No," I said, as I took his arm off my shouders, and cringed, "No I don't." "Aww, come on, Dally. Be nice." Pony said. Dally replied, with a dangerous smile, "I'm never nice. I thought you knew that." Pony made a snobby look at Dally. Suddenly, Two-Bit turned the TV on and turned it to Mickey Mouse. I could tell he liked Mickey by his shirt. As soon as he saw Mickey Mouse, he had a huge smile on his face. I quickly got up to get away from Dally, and sat down by Two-Bit. "Aww man. Mickey Mouse is a real tuff show!" I said. Two-Bit nodded. "Yeah. You like Mickey, too?" "Yeah," I laughed, "I've liked this show since.. Hmm. I've liked it for a long time." Two-Bit nodded, and replied, "Boy, that's real tuff. You dig okay." I smiled. "Thanks, I guess. You dig okay, too." I replied. This Two-Bit kid wasn't that bad looking. He had nice hair, and he always seemed happy. He was wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt under a black leather jacket. He had jeans on, and his socks were showing because his pants were too short. He had black converse shoes on - the same kind I had on.

Dally was glaring at Two-Bit, but I don't think Two-Bit cared much. Sure, I bet he was afraid of Dally, but it didn't seem like he was now. I wonder if everyone is afraid of Dally - I mean, I know I just met him and stuff, but he looks real dangerous. Two-Bit cocked an eyebrow, merely shrugged, and looked back at the TV. Dally said, a bit too loud, "Anybody wanna go to Dairy Queen with me? I'm starvin', man!" "I will! I'm starvin' too. And I want some ice-cream." Two-Bit said, smiling. "Naw, I can't go. I gotta work tonight. Soda can't go either 'cause he has work tommorow mornin'. I don't want Pony to go. He can't get in no trouble." Darry said. Dally just shrugged. Dally suddenly glanced over me. "Dani, do you wanna come? I'll pay for ya." He said. Two-Bit winked at me. "Fine," I said sassily, "But if you try one thing on me, I'm leavin'." "Yeah, well, I'll make sure nothin' happens, Dani." Two-Bit said. I smiled. Dally slapped Two-Bit across the head, and headed out the door. Two-Bit followed after, but it seems like he was waiting for me. "See ya later, guys. Nice meetin' ya." I said, smiling. "Bye, Dani!" Everyone said. I ran out the door to catch up with Two-Bit and Dally. "It's 'bout time ya got here." Dally said bitterly. I made a discusted face at him. He just laughed and smirked.

We continued to walk in silence. It seemed like it took us hours to walk to Dairy Queen, but it was only around 3 o' clock. Finally, we arrived at Dairy Queen. I walked inside, with Two-Bit and Dally following. We walked up to the counter, where you order you're food. "Dani," Dally began, "Whatta you wanna get?" I shrugged and looked up at the menu. "Umm.. I'll have a chocolate ice-cream come." I said, and smiled. "Hey wise guy, you forgot to ask what I wanted." Two-Bit said. "Oh, golly. I almost forgot about poor ol' Two-Bit. What do you want?" Dally asked. Two-Bit replied, "Some fries, a shake, a burger, an ice-cream cone.. And.. No, make that two burgers." The order taking person came, after Dally was screaming for him a few times. "It's about damn time," Dally said dangerously, "Okay. I'd like two orders of fries, two shakes, two burgers and two chocolate ice-cream cones." The order taker guy rolled his eyes. "Whatever. That'll be eleven dollars and twenty-five cents," He said, "Boy, that's one massive cut you got there, baby. Where'd you get that bigga cut?" "Oh, Uh.. I got.. Jumped by some Socs earlier today." I said quietly. After 5 minutes or so of wating, our order came. I slid into a booth next to Two-Bit. "Here's you're ice-cream, Dani," Dally said as he handed me the cone, and then he began to gather Two-Bit's food, "And here's your food, Two-Bit."

It was silent most of the time we were eating. All I could hear is Two-Bit stuffing his face full of food, and Dally kicking me in the leg, trying to start a game of footsie with me. I ended up sitting cross-legged on the booth, because it was annoying me so much. Sure, Dally wasn't bad looking. Heck, he wasn't bad looking at all. It was still annoying though. Everytime Dally would kick me in the leg, I would let out this high-pitched yelp because the kicks usually hurt. He smirked everytime I did that. I stole one of Two-Bit's fries, and he slapped me across the head, smiling. "Man, Two-Bit, Are you done yet?" Dally asked. "Almost." Two-Bit said, as he stuffed the last of his burger into his mouth. He crumbled all of the food wrappers on the table into a little ball, and threw it into the garbage can.

"How 'bout we go get some beer.. And.. Stuff?" Dally asked, with a odd looking grin on his face. "Yeah, man. Lets go. I know a real tuff liquor store a coupl'a blocks from here. We can get a few six-packs of bud or somethin'. You ever drink, Dani?" Two-Bit asked. "I've drank once or twice. I don't like beer that much though. I guess I don't got the taste for it." I said, looking at Two-Bit. "You're insane." Two-Bit said, smiling. "Yeah, whatever. I'm really the one who is insane.." I said sarcasticly. Dally was glaring at Two-Bit again. We turned the corner, and I saw the liquor place. We walked in, and saw two teens making out near the exit. "Get a damn room." Two-Bit said merrily. Dally walked over to the cooler thing, took out two six-packs of bud, and Two-Bit got another pack. They walked over to the purchase counter, but the guy was asleep. Dally just shrugged it off and walked out the door. Two-Bit followed after. I walked out slowly, making sure nobody saw us. The teens making-out were too busy to notice. "Aren't you gonna pay for that?!" I asked. "Naw man, I ain't gonna pay for it." Dally said as he sat down on the grass and opened the six-pack container and pulled out a beer. He opened the can with his mouth, and took a drink. Two-Bit did the same. "Come on, Dani. Get a beer." Two-Bit said, gulping down cans. I sat down akwardly on the grass, and grabbed for a beer. I took a drink. Suddenly, I was finished with the beer and grabbed more. I gulped it down real fast, and grabbed more, and more and more. "Jesus Christ, Dani! Slow down!" Dally said, astonished. Everything was looking all fuzzy to me. "Ugghh," I moaned, "I don't feel good."

I stood up, leaned to one side, and threw up. I suddenly fell backwards, and my head crashed against the hard sidewalk. After that, I couldn't hear or see a thing. Everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

When I came to, I was on some crappy bunk bed. I got up and looked around, realizing I was in a jail cell with Dally and Two-Bit. Dally was laying on the floor, and I kicked him in the side. "Hey wonder boy, What the hells going on? Why did I wake up in a jail cell?" Dally rubbed his eyes. "Well, Uh.. The fuzz came after you passed out. They found out we stole the beer. We're gonna be here for a while." He said. "How long?! Why didn't you stop me from drinking so much? I don't wanna stay here!" I screamed, and accadentally awoke Two-Bit. "You don't got anywhere to stay anyway! So stop your damn whining!" Dally yelled. "Well, this isn't exactly where I wanted to spend my summer! I especially didn't wanna spend it with you!" I screamed, laying back down on the bed. "Yeah, well, I ain't too happy I'm in here again either." Dally said. "Whatever. Sorry we woke you up, Two-Bit." I said. "Aww shoot, It's okay. I was awake anyways." He said. I got back up from my bed and climbed up onto his bed. "Man, this sucks. I'm sorry I drank so much and.. I'm sorry I got you arrested.." I said. "It's not your fault. You wouldn't have gotten drunk if it wasn't for Dal and me." He said. I shrugged, layed on my back, and looked up at the ceiling. 

"How long are we gonna be here, Dally?" I asked anxiously. "Four or five days. Thats all. I think we're gunna live. I've been in here alot more times than you have. You got nothin' to worry about." Dally said in a matter-of-fact way. "Does the gang know 'bout this yet?" Two-Bit asked. "Yeah. I called 'em last night. They're scared somethin' awful. I can't see why - I mean, I've been arrested before. They can't be worried about me. But you and Dani, maybe." Dally said. "Oh." Two-Bit said simply. I could tell he was kinda tired, or sick or something, because he usually talks alot. I rarely even talk, unless I have a real important question or a really important topic to talk about. I ain't real big on talking to people unless I know them really well. I never talk to anybody I don't know, unless they talk to me first. Sure, I'll talk to little kids with no problem. I usually just go up asking them random questions like, "If you had a pony what would you name it?" and stuff like that. It usually creeps them out, but thats what I kinda what I aim for.

Suddenly, a police man came to our cell. He opened it slowly, dropping the jail cell keys about every second. "Uh, some guy came by and bailed you out. His name is..," He paused and pulled out a sheet of paper. "Darrel Curtis. You're free to go. Just don't go getting yourselfs drunk again, you hear?" The police man said. I replied, "Okay." I walked out of the jail cell, smiling. I was glad I was getting out of there. I can't stand jail cells. Especally being with Dallas Winston in one. Darry and Soda were waiting outside for us to come out. I ran up to Darry and gave him a big hug. "Thank you for getting us outta there! Man, we woulda rotted in there! Aww shoot! I love you, Darrel." I said smiling. Darry merely grinned. Soda looked at me like I was completely insane. "Are you serious?" Soda said. "I was kidding, but thank you!" I said, grinning. "No problem, Dani, but you owe me. Big time. Man, I was saving up for a new truck." Darry said. I stopped hugging him, said "Sorry", and we started walking down the street, but Darry went another way. I don't know where he was going. "Where are we goin'?" Dally asked. Soda replied, "The DX. I gotta work today, so does Steve, I guess." We strutted on into the DX, and I saw a girl sitting on a stool near the counter. Sodapop was eyeing her. Soda went behind the counter, and asked, "What can I do for ya?" The girl replied, twirling her hair with her finger, "Uh.. I.. Uh.. Just want a Pepsi, please." Soda nodded, and walked over to the soda fountain. He slowly filled the cup up, staring at the girl the entire time he was filling it. "Aww shoot!" Soda said, as his hands got covered in Pepsi. "S-.. S-Steve! Get me a towel!" Soda yelled across the room. Everyone sitting with me was laughing, I was too. Steve threw a stained towel across the room, and Soda caught it. "I'm real sorry..." Soda said to the girl. "It's.. It's fine." She said. Soda put a straw into the cup, and walked back to the girl. He handed her the drink, and she left, sliding into a booth. Steve appeared beside Soda, and said, "Soda.. Go talk to her. You know you wanna.." "What do I say? I mean, I ain't got nothin' to talk about." Soda said, blushing a little. "Just.. Ya know.. Make conversation." Steve said. Soda nodded, and walked slowly to the girl. He slid into her booth.

Soda and the girl went off into their own conversation, and I wasn't really paying any attention to it. "So," I said, "What should we do?" "Oh, I think you know, baby." Dally smirked. "You're discusting! I would never do that with you!" I said sassily. "Mhmm. Sure ya wouldn't. I know you want me. I've seen the looks you've gave me, babe." Dally said. I made a discusted face. "Cut it out, Dal." Darry said. "Fine, man. But she knows deep down inside that she wants me real bad." Dally said. I shook my head. "No, actually. I don't." I said. Dally shut up after that. I glanced over at that girl and Soda. Soda was smiling, and the girl was giggling. The girl suddenly got up, said "Goodbye" to Soda, and left. Soda frowned the second she walked out the door.

Soda came over to our booth. "So, find out anything interestin' about her?" Steve asked eagerly. "A little. Boy, is she a shy one. Her names Cadi. Cadi Stahr. We have lots in common. She's a real looker, too. We're gonna hang out tommorow." Soda grinned. "Thats tuff enough, I guess." Steve said. "How 'bout we ditch this place and leave, huh? I'm gettin' bored. Lets go to Dani's place." Dally said, smiling mysteriously. "You guys can go, I guess. Me and Steve gotta stay here at work." Soda said. "Alright. See ya." Dally said. "Hey! Wait a minute. I never said we...-" I said. Dally cut me off by heading out the door as fast as he could. "Hmm.. See ya later, guys." I said to Soda and Steve. "Toodle-oo." Steve said. Soda waved at me. Two-Bit followed me as I walked out the door. "Wait up! You don't even know where I live yet, man." I said, trying to catch up with Dally. Two-Bit was lurking behind us, going real slow. "Alright. Uh.. Take a right here. My house is the first one when you turn." I yelled to Dally. I waited up for Two-Bit, and then we started walking again. We got to my house, and Dally was staring wide-eyed at my car. "Woah.. A black Mustang. Boy, this is one tuff car." Two-Bit said, feeling it. "Thanks." I said laughing. I walked inside my house, and turned the light on. "Nice place." Dally said simply as he took off his shoes and put his feet on a coffee table. "Thanks, I guess..." I said akwardly. "I'm thinkin' about stayin' here tonight. Is that okay with you, babe?" Dally asked. I made a strange face. "I.. Dunno.. I guess.. But I only have one bed." I said. Two-Bit replied quickly, "I call the bed!" "Alright. I'll sleep on the couch and Dally can sleep on the floor." I said. I absolutely hate sleeping on floors. My posture really sucks, so my back kills when I sleep on floors. It doesn't help my floor is wood either. "Fine, but I can't promise you I'll stay on the floor." Dally smirked. I rolled my eyes, and went into the kitchen to get an orange crush soda. I almost broke the top part of the glass bottle, and it made a loud noise. Dally came into the room.

"What's goin' on in here?" He asked. "I was just getting a soda.. Nothing happened." I said, cocking an eyebrow. "Are you sure of that?" He asked, fixing his hair, and acting all cocky. "Yeah, I'm sure. Why the hell are you still in here, Dally?" I asked. "To see you." Dally said and smiled. He started to come twards me, with his arms out. "Lets go in the living room, okay?" I said, and walked into the living room, with Dally walking behind me. I sat the soda down on the coffee table, and tossed Dally some pillows. He was laying on the floor in a sexy pose, with his hands under his head and one of his legs crossed over the other. "Hey there, Dani. How are ya?" He said, smirking. "I'm fine..." I said, laying on the couch. "You sure are." Dally laughed. "I'm going to sleep! Goodnight!" Two-Bit screamed from upstairs. "Goodnight, Two-Bit!" I yelled back. "I.. I'm going to sleep now.. Goodnight, Dal." I said and smiled. "'Night, babe." Dally said, as he pulled some blankets overhimself, and took off his shirt. I turned and layed on my side, and moved forward and faced the back of the couch. I closed my eyes and quickly fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, I slowly opened my eyes, and noticed I got pushed even closer to the back of the couch. I was almost suffocating because the cloth of the couch was in my face. Then I noticed that there was a body that was pushed up against mine. I turned over carefully and saw Dally, shirtless, on the couch. He was still asleep. "Dally.." I said softly, shaking Dally. "Dally, Come on.. Wake up.. Please?" I whined. Dally opened his eyes and cringed. "What the hell? Why'd you wake me up so early? It's only," He paused and looked at the alarm clock on the coffee table, "Well.. It's 1:00 pm.. But still. You could have let me wake up more.. Peacefully.." I cocked an eyebrow and said, "Well, maybe if you didn't get on my couch.. thing.. I wouldn't have woke you up." "Sorry. The floor was hard. Atleast you woke up happy because I was sleeping right beside you.." He smirked. I layed on my back and looked up at the ceiling. "Well, I ain't sad.." I said, and smiled. Dally laughed and looked up at the ceiling too.

"Where is everybody? I assumed the whole gang would be here tryin' to wake us up or something." Dally said. "Well," I started, "Soda probably with Cadi hanging out somewhere. Darry had to work today. Steves probably with Soda and Cadi. I overheard Pony say something yesterday about him going somewhere with Johnnycakes, like the movie house or something." "Well.. Where's Two-Bit?" Dally asked. I looked around, and spotted a white peice of paper on the coffee table. I picked it up and read it. "Well, this here note says that Two-Bit went with Pony and Johnnycakes.. So.. We're all alone." I said, and kinda smiled. Dally just smirked dangerously. I was starting to like Dally, I think. I've never been this nice to him before. "Ya wanna go somewhere today?" I asked Dally. "Yeah. Lets go to a bar. I'm craving some alchohol." He replied. "I don't think so. I've had bad experiences with beer and stuff.. As you know." I said sassily, and turned back over on my side. I rested my head on my hand and looked at Dally. "So? You don't have to drink ya know." Dally said, smiling. "I'm not even old enough to get into a bar!" I exlaimed. "I know the guy who owns the bar real well. He lets anybody in that he knows." Dally said simply. I nodded. I was staring into Dally's eyes. They seemed so dark and dangerous. I loved them. "What are you looking at me for?" He asked, smirking. "You have great eyes." I laughed, and turned on my back again and looked blankly at the ceiling. "Thanks. Why are ya being so nice today?" He asked. I shrugged. It was silent for awhile. Akwardly silent.

To try to break the silence, I coughed. It always seems to work. "I'm gonna go get ready and stuff." Dally said, throwing the covers off us and onto the floor. All Dally had on were boxers. I had my gray flannel pajama bottoms on and a plain white tee-shirt on. I giggled for no reason, and walked up to my bedroom. Dally went into the bathroom. I chose to wear a black tee-shirt with a jean jacket over it, with tattered blue-jeans and black, flat shoes. I walked dowstairs and knocked on the bathroom door. "You done yet?" I asked Dally. He opened the door. "Yeah.." He was looking at me funny. "What?" I asked in a strange, high-pitched voice. "Nothing." He laughed, and strutted into the living room. I walked into the bathroom, brushed my hair and teeth, washed my face, and walked over to where Dally was in the living room. "Lets go. We can take my car, I guess.." I said, looking out the window. Dally said, "Can I drive? I bet that baby can go so fast th-.." "No. I don't trust you with my car." I laughed. Dally made a pouty face, but I ignored it and walked to the car.

We arrived at a bar, and I parrell-parked the car on the street. I almost hit a car in front of me. "Why did we go so early? Nobodys gonna be here." I complained. "I don't know.. It's something to do." He said. We walked into the bar, and glared at a man sitting on a bar stool. He clutched his fists, but then walked on. Dally went to the counter and said, "Hey, Dave! Get me a beer and a coke!" The guy behind the counter nodded, and got the items. He handed them to Dally and Dally handed him some money. He gave me the coke, and smirked. Then Dally started to walk away. "Where are you going?" I yelled over the loud music. "Im gonna go hunt some action. See ya later!" He said, and started talking to a slutty looking girl. I was getting kind of jealous. I took a sip of my coke, and took a glance at Dally. He was making-out with the girl. I got so mad that reached over to the guy sitting by me, and started making out with him. It lasted awhile, but then we broke appart. The guy looked at me, and I looked back. He was kinda old. 40-ish old.

He looked too familiar. I glanced over at Dally. He looked real mad. He glared at me, and then walked right out of the bar. I didn't follow him. "Uh.. Hi.." I said. "Hey, baby. How are ya?" He asked. "I'm good." I replied. Even his voice sounded familiar. "Hey, get me two beers." I told the guy behind the counter. I payed him, got the beers, then he asked me, "Where'd he go?" "I don't know.. Uh.. Thanks for the drinks." I said akwardly. He nodded. I handed the guy a beer, and drank the two I got. Before I knew it, I was acting somewhat drunk. "Whats yer name?" I asked the guy. "Richard.. You?" "Dani's my name." I said. "I see. So howabout we go to my place?" The guy said as he slurred his words together. "Yeah. Letsdo that." I said, slurring my words together too. We walked into my car, and left.

We stumbled into his house, which was kinda messy. I fell on the floor and started laughing loudly. Richard laughed too. I sat on the couch, and he sat by me. He grabbed my shirt collar, and pulled me close to him. We started making out again. Suddenly, I heard the door slam, but I ignored it. When we pulled appart, I looked at the guy who came in. It was Dally. "Get outta here, boy!" The guy yelled to him. It finally occurred to me why the guy looked so familiar. He was Dally's dad. "This is Dani." He said. "Oh belive me, we've met before..." Dally said, glaring at us. I said, "Dally.. I-.." "Save your excuses, man. I thought you liked me or somethin'..." After that he walked out the door. "I.. I think I should go, Richard. Nice meeting you." I said. "No! You aren't going anywhere!" He screamed. "I don't think we should talk to eachother anymore.." I said, scared. "Oh really?" He asked, and held my wrists really hard. "Let go of me!" I yelled. Richard slapped me in the face, and threw me across the room. "Dally! Dally, help! Please help! I'm sorry!" I screamed as loud as I could. "Shut the fuck up! Your staying with me!" He screamed, and stuffed a sock he found on the ground in my mouth. I was trying to scream. Richard was holding my wrists so tight that I could'nt even move them. I spit the sock out. "Dally! Help!" I screamed even louder. He threw me into a table, and my head started bleeding. "Help me!" I yelled. "Nobodys gonna help you." Richard said. He slapped me again, and grabbed my wrists. Suddenly, Dally came through the door. "What the hell are you yelling about?" Dally screamed. I said, "Dally! H-" Before I could continue, Richard punched me in the face. It wasn't that hard, though. I was starting to loose my drunken feeling. Dally came into the room, and screamed, "Hey! Stop!" And pushed me aside, and I landed on the floor. He started to punch his dad over and over. Richard crashed onto the floor, and clutched his jaw. "Come on! Lets get outta here!" Dally screamed, and took my hand. We ran as fast as we could to my car. I didn't drive this time, since I was in so much pain. Dally got into the car, and drove away real fast.

We stopped at a stoplight. "Dammit, Dani.. Why were you with him anyway?" Dally said as he angrily hit the car door. "I.. I don't know.." I said, holding my hand to my forehead where blood was gushing out. "Where are we goin'?" I asked. "The Curtis house. Darry'd have some stuff to clean those scrapes up." He said, with a mad look on his face. The rest of the car ride was silent. Dally continued to have that angry look on his face, and it was starting to worry me.

I limped inside the Curtis house, and Dally followed me. The entire gang was in there, and it was kinda enbarrasing going in there all beaten up. I sat down on the couch next to Pony. Dally went into the kitchen to find Darry. "What happened?" Pony asked, and the whole gang seemed to be looking at me. I told them the whole story. About me getting semi-drunk, making out with Dally's own dad, then him beating me. Soda said he was going to kill the guy, but then Steve talked him out of it. Dally came back with Darry, and Darry sat by me. "Hey, Dani. Here's a couple band-aids and a towel. You want help putting 'em on?" Darry asked. I lauged. "No thanks, Darry." I held the towel up to my forehead for awhile, then put 3 band-aids on it. "Why'd you guys go to the bar so early?" Two-Bit asked. "I wanted to. Gee, I bet Dani was happy she went." Dally said sarcasticly. I made a mad face. "I told you I didn't want to go in the first place!" I said. Johnny was looking at my scrapes and cuts. He smiled at me, and I smiled back. "Huh. Now ya tryin' to hit on Johnnycakes?" Dally asked. "No.." I said. Johnny turned real white. The only color in his face was that he was blushing. "Come on, Dal.. Cut it out." Johnny said defendantly. "Fine." Dally replied. "So, Soda.. How was your little date with Cadi?" I asked him. He blushed. "It was.. Real nice. We went to the movie house, then we went to eat. She didn't seem to be so shy today." I nodded and smiled. Soda had a dreamy look on his face.

The rest of the day we just lounged around the house and watched 'Leave It To Beaver' episodes. I think the gang kinda got annoyed at me because I kept telling them how attractive I thought Wally was. All 8 of us stayed at the Curtis house and it was pretty crowded. We all stayed up as long as we could, but I fell asleep first.


	4. Chapter 4

"Come on, Dani.. Get up! I wanna sit on the couch.." Someone complained, shaking me roughly. I moaned, and opened my eyes. It was Two-Bit, with a freshly-baked chocolate cake, and a can of beer. I sat up slowly. "Good mornin', Danielle." Two-Bit said, smiling. "Don't call me that, Keith!" I exclaimed. Two-Bit playfully pushed my shoulder. I took some of his cake, and asked, "Where is everybody?" "Around..." He said. I heard the sound of Dally and Pony talking in the kitchen. I got up, and stumbled into the kitchen. I sat down on a chair. "Hey, Dani." Pony said. I waved, and looked at Dally. His hair was all messy, and it looked like he just got up too. "Hey.." I said akwardly. "Hi." Dally said, with a strange look on his face. "Umm.. I.. I'm real sorry about yesterday, Dally.. It's just.. I got.. So mad.. When you-.. Nevermind." I said. "It's cool, man." He said, walking to the fridge and drinking some chocolate milk right outta the container.

"Dal! Don't do that, man. Darry'd kill ya if he knew you were doin' that." Pony complained. "Aww shut it, Pon'. I can do whatever I want." He said, taking another sip of the chocolate milk. Pony glared at him, then continued eating. "So, what are we gonna do today?" I asked. "Soda wants us all to go to the park today. Soda's bringin' Cadi there, and Soda wants us to meet her. My friend Crimson is commin' too." Pony said, smiling. "Yeah, she's really just your friend. Shoot, man. You guys flirt all the time." Dally said. "Shut up, Dally!" Pony exclaimed. I giggled. "The park thing sounds cool. What time are we sapposed to go?" I asked. Pony looked at the clock. "We're sapposed to be there.. Now, actually! Soda took everyone there already except for Two-Bit and us. We better get goin'." Pony said. I nodded and got up. I walked outside to Dally's car, and Two-Bit, Pony and Dally followed. Dally hopped into the drivers seat of the car, and started it up. I got into the passengers seat and everyone else got in the back.

Dally drove real fast to the park. When we got there, Darry, Johnny, Steve were passing a football to eachother and Dally, Two-Bit and Pony joined them, and Soda and Cadi were making out under a tree. I spotted the girl Pony was talking about. We started talking, alot actually. We talked about music, and (almost) everything else. I went over to Soda and Cadi for a minute, and interupted they're make-out session. "Hey, Cadi. Nice to meet ya!" I said. "Hey.. Your Dani, right?" She asked. "Yeah. Thats my name." I said, grinning. "That's cool, Dani." She said. I nodded. "Football time!" Two-Bit yelled. "I'll be back, babe." Soda said to Cadi. "Alright. I love ya!" Cadi said. Soda grabbed her and kissed her on the lips. "Awww.." I said, smiling. "Psh. Shut up.." Cadi said, jokingly. Cadi ran over to a picnic table and watched them. I sat down a blanket next to Crimson. Right after the boys picked their teams, they started the game. They didn't let us play since..well, they were really really strong and we were girls and...I guess they were just trying to be conciderate. It kind of ticked me off, though. Crimson didn't have to have a problem with it much. She shouldn't. I mean, she was probably only about 5'3 and weighed maybe...98 pounds at most.

I looked at the boys playing. At the moment, Dally tackled Two-Bit down pretty hard. In fact, Two-Bit got up and playfully pushed Dally. Dally pushed back. Then, they got down and started to wrestle. The rolled around on the ground, and came right up to the blanket. I got up, but Crimson seemed to be in another world. She was looking away. Worst part, her legs were stretched out in front of her. They rolled up on her legs, and were fighting in her lap. She looked surprised. I started dying laughing. Pony came up and broke up the fight. Then he started talking to her and hugging her. Dally came up to me. I was still laughing my guts out. "Mmm, you seem to be havin' fun!" He said. I nodded. "Well...you look pretty when you're laughing." he said that and quickly ran back to the game. I stopped laughing. Pony ran up to the game and they started again. "What are you surprised at?" Crimson asked, staring at me. "Oh? Nothing..nothing." I said. "Man, Two-Bit and Dal sure got at it." Crimson said. "Yeah..I know." I sat back down. Then, I got an idea. I pulled the switch blade out of my shoe. Scooting up to the nearest tree, I switched it out. On the trunk, I drew a heart near the bottom. I put the blade away and pulled out my smaller switch from my pocket. "How many switches do you have?" Crimson asked as she watched me. "Loads." I grabbed the blade of my switch like a pencil. Using the tip, I slowly wrote in the small heart 'D.W.+D.M.'. I switched my blade back in and put it back. I glanced up at the guys. Dally was looking at me. I smiled at him. He returned it. "D.W.?! That's Dally!" Crimson whispered as she read it, "D.M... That's you...YOU LIKE DALLY?" She was using a loud whisper. "I love Dallas Winston... and I'm not afraid to admit it." I said confidently, even though my insides were still jumpy from Dally's smile.

Soda tackled Pony and spiraled the ball to Two-Bit. He ran real fast to the touchdown mark and slammed the ball on the ground. "Whooo!" Two-Bit yelped. Pony didn't get up. Crimson ran as fast as she could to Pony. "You okay, Pon'?" She asked. "I'm fine." Pony said, smiling wide and getting up. "Good! I thought you were hurt real bad.." Crimson said. "I'm okay." Pony said. Crimson nodded and came back to the blanket. "Aww. Does Crimson have a little crush on.. Hmm.. Could it be.. Ponyboy Curtis?" I said. Crimson blushed and said nothing. "How cute." I said. "I just wanted to see if he was okay, that's all." She said. "Sure ya did." I said sarcasticly. "I did!" She exclaimed. "Mmhmmm. Right." I said. "I DID!" She yelled. "Jeez... Fine..." I said, looking at the boys playing football. "Sorry.." Crimson said. "It's okay, man." I said. Just then, Dally scored the last touchdown of the game. Dally's team won obviously, because they were all yelping and cheering. Two-Bit looked real sad that he lost. I walked over to him, and asked, "Hey, buddy. You okay?" He didn't reply. "Awww.." I said, and gave Two-Bit a hug. "I'm fine." Two-Bit smiled. I returned the smile, and walked back to the tree that I carved the heart into. Crimson got up and left. "See ya, Crimson!" I said. She waved, gave Pony a hug, and walked away. Soda and Cadi left too. The whole gang was huddled in a little spot. I was watching them, and Pony was standing by Dally, pointing at me. I cocked an eyebrow as Dally came over to me.

"H-..Hi.." I said. "Hey.. I hear theres a rumor goin' around that you like me or somethin'..." He said, smirking. I stood up to cover up the carving. "What? Where'd you hear that?" I asked. "Pony... Crimson... A coupla' other people too. Hey, what are ya hidin' behind ya there, Dani?" He asked. I got real nervous. "Nothing! Why would I be hiding something on a tree? Psshhh." I said. "I don't know... But I'm gonna find out." Dally said, as he picked me up and put me across his shoulder. "Put me down!" I screamed, kicking his stomach with my feet. "Naw. Lets see.. What do we have here," Dally said, reading the carving, "D.W. + D.M... Huh. I wonder who wrote that..." Dally said. "It was a joke. Crimson.. She.. Uh.. She... She wrote it there. It was just a joke, man." I said, trying to wiggle loose of Dally's hold. "Crimson didn't have a switchblade with her today, now did she?" He asked. "Erm.. No. She used a real sharp stick to carve it with." I lied. Dally looked around. "I watched you guys when I played football occasionaly. I saw you with a switchblade. Was it you or am I just goin' crazy?" Dally asked. I tried wiggling loose again, and said, "Fine, fine! It was me, okay? Just.. L-Let me go!" I screamed. "Huh. That's what I thought..." Dally said. "Will you let me go? Please?!" I asked. Dally shook his head, and ran with me on his shoulder. "W-Where are we going?" I asked. "Somewhere.." Dally said.

Suddenly, he threw me into the back seat of his car. I layed on my back, and Dally closed the door behind him. "What are you doin'?" I asked. "You'll find out..." Dally said, laying on top of me. He started kissing me roughly, and then we started making out. "Dont you think we should.. Discuss.. Stuff before doing this?" I asked between kisses. Then, Dally sat up, and put his finger over my mouth. "Shh.." He said, then continued. Suddenly, someone tapped on the car window. Dally and I broke appart, and stared at eachother fo a second. Then we looked at the car window, and it was Two-Bit and Pony. Dally rolled down the window, and said, "Can't you two leave? I'm kinda busy." "Oh, I bet you are." Two-Bit said. "We want a ride back to my place... Please, Dal?" Pony begged. "Yeah, fine." He said. He whispered in my ear, "We'll continue this later.." And smirked. I kinda blushed, and he got out of the car and into the drivers seat. "Are you two like a.. thing.. now er somethin'?" Two-Bit said. "I dunno." I said, akwardly. Dally just kept driving.

When we got to the Curtis house, it was kinda late. Dally got caught in a traffic jam and he got real agrivated. Then Two-Bit told Dally he wanted to be dropped off at home, so Dally had to drive all the way to his place. Soda and Darry were already home when we got there. "Hey Pon', is it okay if we crash here again tonight, man?" Dally asked. "Yeah. I'm sure Darry wont mind." Pony said, walking into the house. I followed Dally in. I plopped down on the couch next to Dally and Pony. Suddenly, Soda came out of the bathroom with only a towel on. "Hey Darry, where are all my shirts?" He asked. "I iorned all of 'em yesterday mornin'. They're in yer closet." Darry said. I started cracking up. "You iron?!" I asked, laughing. "Yeah, man. I iorn. I'm kinda the mother of this family." He said. That just made me laugh harder, and Darry glared at me. "Sorry..." I said. "Whatever." He replied, with a stern look on his face. "I'm goin' to bed. I gotta work in the mornin'." Darry said. "Man, you always have to work! When the hell is your next day off? Have some fun for once, man." Pony said sassily. "You better watch your mouth, Pony. You hear? My next day off is on Monday." He said. "Thats not for another week! Soda, ain't you tired of him workin' all the time, and we never getta see him anymore, man?" Pony asked. "Leave me out of it! I'm goin' to bed. G' night everyone..." Soda said, walking to his room. Pony said, "Now see what ya did!?" Darry was starting to get real mad. "Shut up! I didn't do nothin'! It ain't my fault I have to work to get some damn money for our family, man! Goodnight!" Darry said as he stomped of to bed. Pony looked down at his shoes. "Y-You okay, Pon'?" I asked. "Yeah. But I'm kinda sad 'cause I made Soda get all mad like that. I mean, tommorow is his birthday. I don't want him to get sore at me or anything. I think I'm gonna go to bed too. Goodnight." Pony said. I cursed under my breath because I hadn't got anything for Soda yet. "Aw.. Gimmie a hug." I said smiling at Pony. He cocked an eyebrow and came up to me and hugged me. Dally kinda glared. "Goodnight, Pony!" I said, as I gave him a noogie. He smiled for the first time in a while. "Goodnight, Dally and Dani." He said.

When Pony left, it got kinda akward. Me and Dal were the only two people awake. Suddenly, he put his arm around me and said, "I call the couch." I shook my head. "No ya don't. I do." I smiled. "We can share the couch, babe..." Dally said, as he layed on me and started making out with me again. Suddenly I heard footsteps. I looked to the side of me, still making out with Dally. We broke appart, and I said, "Who's there?" The footsteps continued. I turned on the light and saw Darry, getting a glass of water. "Man, why does this always happen?" Dally asked, glaring at Darry. "I don't know. Bad luck or somethin', I guess." I replied. "Don't worry.. I'm going back to sleep.." Darry said, as he walked to his room with his glass of water. Dally turned off the light, and layed down beside me. The couch was pretty big - Big enough to fit both of us, atleast. Dally kissed my lips real softly, then layed back down. "Goodnight, Dani." He said. "Goodnight." I replied.

I closed my eyes, but couldn't get to sleep for awhile. Dally kept rolling over on me, kicking me, and practically pushing me off the couch. Then he started snoring softly. It was kinda cute. I don't know how snoring could be cute, but it was.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, I woke up on the floor. My head was on the coffee table, and my legs were still somewhat on the couch. I carefully stood up, trying my hardest not to wake Dally up. Suddenly, I tripped and fell over a shoe and a t-shirt. Dally opened his eyes and rubbed them. "Good morning, starshine! The Earth says hello!" I said happily. Dally moaned. "Why are you so happy today, man?" "I dunno..." I replied, getting up from the floor. I walked over to Dally and sat on the end of the couch. Soda and Pony came out of their rooms, and Soda said, "What the hell was that noise?" "I tripped... Sorry I woke ya.." I said. "It's okay. I was gonna get up anyway." He replied. "Where's Darry?" I asked. "He's at work..." Soda replied in a depressed tone. "Oh. Happy birthday, Soda!" I said, trying to cheer him up. "Thanks, Dani!" He replied happily. "No problem." I said. I looked at Dally, who's hair was real messy. "Yer hair looks nice this mornin', Dal." I said, grinning. "Thanks, babe. Yer hair doesn't look to bad either." He said, smiling. I returned the smile and tried to turn the TV on. "Hey, Soda... The power went out or somethin'.." I said. Soda flipped a switch on and off, but the light wouldn't turn on. "Huh. It'll probably turn back on in a second.." Soda said. "How do you know?" I asked. "I just know, Dani..." Soda said mysteriously from the kitchen. "It's okay though, 'cause things can get real fun in the dark..." Dally said slyly. "It's only 11 am. It ain't dark at all.." I said, laughing. "So? Things can get fun during the day too, man." Dally said. As soon as he finished saying that, the power turned back on. "I told ya it'd come back on.." Soda said, sticking his tounge out at us. "Aww shut up, birthday boy." Dally said, smirking. Soda glared at him for a second, and then went back into the kitchen with Pony. "I'm gonna go get changed. I'll be back in a few minutes." I said. "Can I come watch?" Dally asked, smiling. "What do you think?" I asked. "Yes. I think I should come watch." He replied. "Well ya can't." I said, smiling. I walked into the bathroom with the bag of clothes I brought over to the Curtis house a couple nights before, just incase I would stay the night. I changed into a plain white t-shirt, some jeans, a plain black hoodie, and some red socks with black polka-dots. I combed my hair and looked through the medicine cabinent for a hair straightener, and I was surprized they had one. I straightened my hair, and put a big plastic headband on my head. I put everything back where it was, and quitely stepped out of the bathroom.

"Dani's lookin' awful cute today, Dally." I heard Pony say. "Hey, shut up, kid. I'm gonna ask her out later after Soda's party or somethin'." Dally said. "But ain't you two already goin' steady?" Soda asked. "I don't know. I mean, the other day, Two-Bit asked if we were an item. She said she didn't know. But today, I'm gonna make it official, man." He replied. My face was turning really red as I walked into the kitchen. I sat down on a chair in-between Pony and Dally. Soda and Pony were eating breakfast. "Hiya." I said akwardly. "Hiya." Soda and Pony echoed. Dally was eyeing me. "What the hell are ya lookin' at?" I asked him. He looked up at me and replied, "You.." "I kinda figured that..." I said, smiling.

The doorbell suddenly rang and Soda shot up from his chair and ran to the door. It was Cadi. She walked in casually with Soda around her arm. "Hi, Cadi." I said. She just waved at me because she was busy making-out with Soda. "I'm goin' to Wal-Mart to get Soda somethin'. Anyone wanna go?" I asked. Soda and Cadi didn't reply, but Pony nodded. Dally said, "I'll go too." I smiled and we got up and went outside to my car. 

When we got to Wal-Mart, Pony tripped trying to get out of the car, and got a real big cut on his head. "You alright, Pony?" I asked, kneeling on the ground. "Yeah.. I just need a Band-Aid, that's all." Pony said, holding onto his cut. It was bleeding real bad. "I'll getchya some, Pony. Lets go inside." Dally said, walking. I grabbed Pony's hand and helped him up, and we followed Dally. Dally sneakily walked to where the Band-Aids were at, and stuffed a box into his coat jacket. We wandered away from that isle. "So, Pony, Have ya got Soda anything yet?" I asked. "Yep. I got him a football." Pony replied. "Awesome, man. I dunno what I'm gonna get him yet..." I said. "I didn't bring any cash.." Dally said. "We could get Soda something from the both of us..." I said. "Alright," Dally said, looking around, "Get him this here trampoline. We could all have fun on this thing." He was holding up a really big box.

"How much is it?" I asked. "It's.. Uh.. 57 bucks." Dally said, making a strange face. "Man, will you guys hurry up? I'm bleedin' really hard.." Pony complained. "We can take as long-" Dally said, but I cut him off. "Yeah, sure, Pony." I smiled.

We strutted over to the check-out register. I carefully placed the trampoline box on the register, being careful not to break any peices. "This'll be 57 dollars, please." The good-looking cashier said. I eyed him carefully as I grabbed the cash in my pocket. Dally nudged me, and I quickly looked away from the cashier. "What?!" I asked Dally. "Nothing. Jesus Christ, just pay for it and let's leave!" He said. "Fine.. Jeez.." I said. I payed for the trampoline and said bye to the cashier. "Seeya around." He said, smiling. I returned the smile as I walked out of the store. Dally carried the box into the trunk of my car, and angrily got into the passengers seat. Pony got into the back and I akwardly got into the drivers seat.

"What's buggin' you?" I asked. "Nothing.. I'm sorry if I-" I silenced him by softly kissing his lips. "What was that for?" I asked, smirking. "I dunno. It was just outta instinct or somethin'." I replied. "Oh. You should listen to yer instinct alot more often, doll." Dally said. "Jeez guys," Ponyboy said, "Can ya please give me a Band-Aid, Dal?" "Yeah. Here ya go, Pony." Dally replied, reaching into his pocket and giving Pony a Band-Aid. Pony took off the wrapper stuff and stuck it to his forehead.

The clouds were starting to fade as it was getting darker outside. We walked onto the lawn of the Curtis house, just as Cadi was leaving. "Where are you goin'?" Pony asked her. "I'm goin' to get Soda's present. I'll be back later." She replied. Pony nodded and walked into his house, with Dally and I following him. Dally carried the trampoline box into the kitchen where the cake and Pony's present were. He strutted into the living-room where Soda, Pony and I were.Pony and Soda were looking strangely at Dally and I. "What the hell are ya lookin' at?" Dally asked. Soda made a kissy-face and said, "Oh, I think ya know, Dal."

I cocked an eyebrow and said, "What are you talkin' about?" "Nothin', Dani.. He was just bein' stupid, thats all." Dally replied. "Mhmm. Sure." I said. "Look," Dally said angrily, "I am sure. Soda was just foolin' around, okay? Jesus Christ.." Everything got silent after that until the doorbell rang. Soda jumped up and ran to the door. "Hiya, Cadi." Soda said. "Hi, babe." Cadi replied, walking into the living-room. "Where's his present?" Pony asked. "Somewhere..." Cadi said mysteriously. "I see." Pony replied. Darry suddenly walked through the door with Johnny, Two-Bit and Steve following. "Hey guys! Why are ya home so early, Darry?" Soda asked happily. 

"Nevermind that," Darry said with a confused look on his face, "Why is there a freakin' horse outside?" "Huh? What are ya talkin' about?" Soda asked. "God damn, Darry! Ruin the whole effin' surprize! I-.. I bought your old horse.. Mickey Mouse.. From this guy I ran into the other day. He told me about how he took a horse away from this one guy and a whole buncha other junk. So I figured it'd be a real good birthday present for ya." Cadi said. Soda's face quickly changed from a confused look to an extremely happy one. Soda kissed Cadi and said, "Cadi! I love you!" He quickly ran outside and got on his horse. Everyone followed. "Hiya, Mickey!" Soda said happily.

"This is sure better than our present.." I said to Dally. "Yeah. It sure is, man." He replied. "Where are we gonna put this thing? It ain't like we got a barn in our backyard." Darry said. "I have some stables at my place. I have food and everything there. Soda can still ride him whenever he wants, even when I ain't home." Cadi said. "Alright. Come on, everyone. Lets go get some cake." Darry replied. Two-Bit did this real weird yelp thing and it made me laugh so hard I fell on the ground. "Jeez, Dani! Whats yer problem?" Dally asked. I tried to reply, but I was laughing too hard. Most of my laughs sound really strange, but this one seemed to be the strangest of them all. I was snorting and practiacly screaming I was laughing so hard.

"Come on, Dani... Come inside now. The neighbors probably think yer on somethin'." Darry said. That only made me laugh harder. He was probably thinking the fuzz would get called on us for disturbing the peace or something like that, because he seemed to be getting nervous that the neighbors were peering out their windows. Finally, he got tired of it and bridal-style carried me into the house. Darry tossed me onto the couch. "Sorry, Darry. Sometimes I start laughin' about the stupidest things." I said. "Oh, so my scream thing fer cake is stupid?" Two-Bit asked frowning. "Naw.. It was kinda cute, actually." I said smiling. "Thanks, Dani." He replied. "No problem." I said, walking into the kitchen. We all sang the happy birthday song and Two-Bit was singing all loud and obnoxiously. It nearly made me die of laughter again. "Make a wish, baby.." Cadi said to Soda. Soda blew out his 17 candles in one breath, and accidentally blew frosting onto Dally's face. 

"Happy birthday, Sodapop..." Dally said, digging his hands into the cake. "Dally... Don't..." Darry said glaring at Dally. Dallas picked up two pieces of cake and threw one into Darry's face and one into Soda's. Soda and Darry fired back into Dally's direction, but he ducked and it landed on me. We continued the cake-fight until all of the cake was gone. Every one of us were covered in cake, and Two-Bit was eating it off of himself. "How's the cake, Two-Bit?" Soda asked. "It's excelent, man..." Two-Bit replied, licking his fingers clean. "It sure is, man." Steve said, begining to eat frosting off of himself. "Thats good." Soda smiled. "Soda, Ya wanna open yer presents now?" Darry asked. "Yeah!" Soda said happily as he grabbed a box. He opened all of his presents and liked every one of them.

Later that night, everone just lounged around the house doing nothing. We started playing a game of pick-up-sticks, but Darry got all mad that he lost and went outside to put up the trampoline. "Hey, how 'bout we go swimmin' tommorow?" Two-Bit asked. "Ehh.. That means I gotta wear a swimmin' suit..." I groaned. "Yeah. What else would ya wear?" Two-Bit asked, cocking an eyebrow. "I dunno.. I just don't like wearin' swimmin' suits." I replied. "Dont wear anything then..." Two-Bit laughed. "Aw shut up! I'll go. I'm just gonna watch you guys swim, though." I said. "Oh, so you getta see us in swimming suits but we don't getta see you in one? That ain't very fair.." Two-Bit said. "Yes it is, man." I said, standing up. I walked into the kitchen to get a glass of chocolate milk. I sat on a stool and drank it slowly. Dally suddenly came into the room, sitting to the left of me. 

"Hey, Dal..." I said. "Hey. Whatchya doin'?" He asked. I looked down at my cup. "I'm just drinkin' chocolate milk.. What are you doin'?" "Just sittin' here.." Dally said. "I see that. I'm gonna go back into the livin' room, okay?" I said getting up from the stool. "Wait," Dally said grabbing my arm, "Will ya be my girlfriend?" "Well.. Uh.. Sure, I guess." I said half-smiling. "Cool.." He replied. "Mhmm.. So.. Uh.. Are ya goin' swimming tommorow?" I asked. "Yeah. Are you goin'?" He asked me. "I might just watch ya guys.." I replied. "Aww shoot.. Why wont ya swim?" He said. I replied, "I'm afraid to.. Uh.. Drown. Mhmm." "Shoot.. I'll be sure to give you mouth-to-mouth if you drown.." Dally said, wrapping his arms around me and kissing my lips.

I wrapped my arms around him, kissing his lips softly and running my fingers through his hair. We broke appart, and casually walked back into the living-room. The whole gang was eyeing us strangely. I looked around at everyone's facial expressions, and sat down on Dally's lap. "Hey Dally... Why's yer hair all messy again?" Soda asked, winking. "Take a wild guess..." Dally said slyly. "Ohhh... I get it.." Soda said, spanking the air. "Hey, shut up, man.. We didn't.. Do.. That.." Dally replied. "Let's change the subject, please..." I said. "Fine, fine. So Dani, you goin' swimmin' tommorow er not?" Two-Bit asked me. "..I don't know." I replied. "Aw, come on, Dani! Please!" Two-Bit whined. "I'll just watch, okay?" I said. "I never get what I want." Two-Bit frowned. "Yeah, well, the sun don't shine on the same dog's ass everyday." I replied. "What the hell does that mean, Dani?" He asked. "Nothing.." I laughed. "I'm gonna go change into my pajamas.." I said as I got up from Dally. He started to get up and follow me. "No. Sit. Wait here." I said, smirking.

I skipped into the bathroom and put on a pair of plaid gray pants and a plain black shirt. I brushed my teeth and went back into the living-room. The gang had moved into the kitchen, and was eating a whole carton of ice-cream. I walked into the kitchen and sat down on a chair. "I'm gonna go home, guys. Johnnycake, Two-Bit, wanna ride?" "Yeah." Cadi, Johnny and Two-Bit said. "Bye guys! Thanks for the presents!" Soda said. I realized Cadi had left. "Where'd Cadi go, Soda?" I asked. "She had to go home, smart-britches." Soda said. That made me start laughing really hard again, but when I saw Darry's facial expression I stopped laughing. "Well, we're gonna go. See ya." Steve said. "Bye!" I yelled. Steve, Johnny and Two-Bit walked out the door. I heard Steve's car drive away.

"You want some ice-cream, Dani?" Pony asked. "Yeah, sure." I replied. Pony handed me a spoon, and I started eating some ice-cream. Darry was stuffing spoonfulls of ice-cream into his mouth, and his cheeks were expanding. "Slow down, Darry.. God.." I said. "Just let me finish it.." Darry said with his mouth full. He finished the ice-cream, then threw the carton into the garbage can. "I'm goin' to sleep.. Goodnight, guys." I said. "I'm gonna go to sleep too. 'Night." Dally replied, smirking. "Goodnight." Pony, Soda and Darry said. I walked up to Pony and gave him a hug. "Is this huggin' thing a routine now er somethin'?" Pony asked, hugging me. "Yep!" I smiled. We stopped hugging, and Dally and I went into the living-room.

"Goodnight, Dally.." I smiled. "G' night, doll." He replied, kissing me on the lips. I kissed back, and layed down on the couch with Dally. Darry was shouting at Pony real loudly, and I couldn't get to sleep. Soda got real sick of the screaming so he went to bed. Dally got to sleep fine. He was snoring real loud. Darry shoved Pony through the kitchen door, and Pony fell down. Darry slapped him and shoved him again, and Pony hit the wall. I sat up real carefully, and rushed over to Darry and Pony. "Pony.. I'm sorry!" Darry said. Pony was crying to hard he couldn't reply. He ran out the door.

"Jesus Christ, Darry! What'd you do that for?!" I asked. "It's none of your damn business, Dani!" Darry screamed, walking to his room. I went outside and found Pony sitting on the front steps, smoking a cigarette. I sat down beside him. "You okay, Pony?" I asked. "N-no. Man, me and Darry used to get along great. But now since mom and dad are dead, he's just... Different. Thats all.." He said, crying. I put my arm around his back. "It's okay, Pony..." I said. "I'm just.. Sick of Darry screamin' at me all the time, man.. I'm sick of him tellin' me how to run my life. He ain't my dad." Pony cried. I gave Pony another hug, and he was crying in my shoulder. "Ya wanna go back inside? I think Darry went to bed.." I said. "Yeah.. Sure." Pony said. 

Suddenly, we spotted Tim Shepard walking down the sidewalk. "Aw shoot.. What does he want?" Pony asked. "I dunno..." I said. "Hey, darlin'. I just came by 'cause I wanted to know somethin'." Tim said. "W-..What?" I asked. "Wanna go out sometime?" He asked. "No." I replied. Tim looked just as rough as Dally. Maybe even more than Dally. "Nobody says no to me!" Tim replied, slapping me across the face. "Come on, Tim! Leave her alone!" Pony exlaimed. "I'll get you, Dani. Watch your back." Tim said dangerously, walking away. "I-.. I'm scared, Pony.." I said, shivering. "You should be. Tim's one tough guy, man." Pony said, walking inside. I followed him in.

"Well, goodnight, Pony." I said, hugging him again. "Goodnight, Dani." He smiled, hugging me. He walked into Soda and his room. I layed down on the couch again, and accidentally woke Dally up. "What the hell are you doin' up?" Dally asked, rubbing his eyes. "D-Darry and Pony got in a real bad fight.. A-and.. Pony and I went outside.. And.. Tim was passin' by.. He asked me i-if I wanted to.. Go out with him sometime.. I said no, and he slapped me and.. And he told me to watch my back.. I'm.. Kinda scared, Dally.." I said. He wrapped his arms around me and we layed down. "You'll be okay. I'll protect ya.. Don't worry.."

I smiled tearfully. "I.. Love.. you.." "I love you too, doll. G' night." Dally kissed me again, with his arms still around me. "Goodnight." I said, kissing him back. I stared at Dally for a few minutes, and slowly drifted off to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey, wake up, man..." I heard a familiar voice say. I rubbed my eyes and found Two-Bit, in his swimming trunks, sitting on the edge of the couch. I sat up and saw 6 other guys with swimming trunks on, and Cadi in her swimming suit. "Well ain't this a great thing to wake up to?" I said, smirking. "It sure is," Two-Bit laughed, "Put on yer swimmin' suit and come with us. It'll be fun." I sighed. "Fine." I walked into the bathroom and changed into my black swimming suit. I wrapped a towel around myself and brushed my hair and teeth.

I put on a pair of flip-flops and went back into the living room. "Oww oww.." Two-Bit yelped. "Aw, shut up, Two-Bit..." I said. "Yeah Two-Bit, shut up.." Dally said dangerously. "Okay, okay. Chill out, man. Who's car are we gonna take?" Two-Bit asked. "Mine, I guess. You guys can ride in the back of my truck. Pony, you can ride in the passengers seat if you wanna.." Darry said. Pony completely ignored him, and glared at Darry. That was the most angry expression I've ever seen Ponyboy have on his face. Soda didn't look to happy with Darry either. Two-Bit finished his cake, combed his hair, and finally got up. "Lets go!" He yelled, running out the door. 8 of us got into the back of the truck and Darry sat in the drivers seat.

When we got to the pool there were mostly Socs there with Mustangs and other nice cars, so Darry's truck stood out alot. We were walking to the entrance of the pool when I spotted Tim Shepard and some of his gang. I started walking behind Dally so he wouldn't try to see me, but I think he might have noticed me anyway. We payed a few cents to get in, then found a place to put all of our towels. I took my flip-flops off and slowly got into the pool. We swam to the deep end. Bob and Randy were hanging out over there - but Randy wasn't swimming. He was fully clothed, and standing right by the side of the pool. Randy was eyeing me up and down, and Dally saw him. Dally had an angry look on his face. He got out of the pool, pretended he was going to the diving-board area, said "Hiya, Ape-Face! How ya doin' today?" To Randy, and pushed Randy into the pool from behind. The lifeguards got pretty mad, but Dally just shrugged it off and went back in the pool.

"You god damn hoods are no good!" Randy screamed, swimming twards Dallas. "Oh yeah?" Dally said. "Yeah." Randy replied angrily. Dally went up to Randy and punched him in the face real hard, then dunked Randy underwater for a few seconds. Randy came back to the surface and punched Dally in the face. One of the lifeguards swam into the pool. "Take it outside!" The lifeguard screamed. "Alright. Let's take it outside." Dally said, pushing Randy. "B-but I didn't do anything! I shouldn't be the one who has to leave, sir." Randy said. "Alright. You don't have to leave. But you," The lifeguard pointed to Dally, "Your gonna leave the pool. Now." "Fine," Dally said, slicking his hair back, "I'll leave. But remember, Ape-Face, I'll find you." "I'm so scared..." Randy said sarcasticly. Dally glared at him for a second, then looked at the gang, Cadi and I.

"I'll be outside waitin' for you guys. Try to hurry up, huh?" Dally said. "Yeah, okay, Dally." Darry said. "See ya, darlin'." Dally said to me. He strutted out of the pool, grabbed his stuff, and left. Randy was chuckling to himself, and I could tell everyone was getting mad at him. Darry got really close to Randy and said, "Look. We're gonna kick yer guys's ass tonight. Come to the lot at 8. Bring yer other friends. That is, if you guys even show." "Belive me, we will show. See ya at 8, greasers." Randy said, swimming over to his friends. They ran out of the pool and left as soon as they heard about the rumble -- probably to go gather more friends.

"Dani, we're gonna go get somethin' to eat. Ya want anything?" Darry asked. "Naw. I ain't hungry. Thanks though." I said. "Alright. We'll be back in a while." Darry said. I nodded. I swam around for a while, then just stood there. Suddenly, someone came up from behind and grabbed me. I turned around and saw Tim. I cursed under my breath, realizing I had no one to protect me from him. "What do you want?" I asked. "You, baby!" He said, not letting go of me. "Look, Tim.. I don't like you. At all. I frankly hate you. So if you could just.. Go.. That'd be nice." I said. My face got hot and I was shaking like a leaf. "Ya hate me, huh?" Tim asked. "Y-... Ye-.. Kinda.." I said. "Well then.. I guess I'll be going. Bye, baby." Tim said, with a dangerous smirk on his face. He swam away and headed for the consession stands.

The gang came back to the pool and swam twards me. "Hey, Dani. I got alotta more people to help us in the rumble." Darry said. "That's good. Who's helpin'?" I asked. "Tim Shepard and his outfit. Some of this other gang's commin' too." Darry said. At that time I felt like I was going to throw up. Or start crying, atleast. "Darry! Me and Tim ain't.. Too good of friends. I can't go to the rumble, man. I just can't." I said. "Shoot. Yer a girl. What good could ya do anyways?" Steve said. I glared at him for a second, and so did Cadi. "Come on, Dani. You ain't gonna get hurt. Yer a tough girl. Anyways, we'll protect ya. I promise, man." Two-Bit said. "Fine..." I said with a shaky voice. "I'm gonna go and talk to Dally. I'll talk to ya later." I said, getting out of the pool. I put my flip-flops on and wrapped a towell over myself, then I walked into the bathroom to take a shower and to brush my hair.

I walked outside and found Dally asleep on his towel. I sat my towel next to his, and kissed his lips softly. He opened his eyes and rubbed them. "Hey.." Dally said in a tired voice. "Hiya. We're havin' a rumble against the Socs tonight.. In the lot at 8." I said. "Good. It's about time we teach them damn Socs a lesson." Dally replied, sitting up. "Tim Shepard and his outfit and another gang is gonna help us.. I had a little chat with Tim earlier. I-.. I told him I hated him, and I'm kinda regretting saying that now." I said. "Shoot... He's gonna hurt you, man... You better watch your back at the rumble, doll." Dally said. "I-I know.." I said.

After a few minutes of silence, the gang came out of the pool and walked up to us. "Ya ready to go?" Darry asked, looking down at me. "Yeah.." I said, standing up with my towel in my hand. Dally did the same and strutted to Darry's truck. We all got into the back and drove away.

"I'll give one of ya guys 5 bucks if you beat up Tim Shepard for me.." I said, smirking. "I will.." Steve said. Everyone looked surprized. "Really?" I asked. "Yeah, sure. I will at the rumble tonight." He said. "Alrighty. Thanks, Steve." I smiled. "Yeah. No problem." Steve said. "Steve, ya know yer gonna get killed, right?" Soda said. Steve merely shrugged. "No I ain't. After rumbles I feel tough. Like nothin' can hurt me. That is if we win the rumble..." "We are gonna win, man. Just.. Be careful. You know how tough Tim is." Soda said. "Alright, alright. I'll be careful. Whatever." Steve said. Darry parked the truck in the driveway and everyone hopped out of the car. We walked into the house and started to get pumped up for the rumble. 

By the time it was 7:50, everyone was high-strung and really hyper. "LET'S GO!" Steve yelped, zooming out the door. Everyone was screaming and shouting, and one of the neighbors told us to shut up. We didn't quiet down at all though, we just got louder. I hopped on Dally's back and he ran all the way to the lot with me on his back. He put me down, and I hid behind him, trying to avoid Tim. "Hiya, Tim. How are ya?" Pony asked. "Pretty good, kid." He replied. "How's Curly?" Pony questioned. "He's.. Okay. He's in the reformatory for 3 more months." Tim said. Pony nodded and walked away. "Why are you hiding behind me?" Dally whispered. "Because. I don't want Tim to know I'm here.." I whispered into Dally's ear from behind. "He's gonna know sooner or later, darlin'." He said, picking me up and putting me down to the side of him. "Why, hello, Dani.." Tim said dangerously.

"Hi." I said simply, looking away from him. "How are ya, sweetheart?" Tim asked. "Shut the fu-" Dally began. "Shut up Tim! I ain't your 'sweetheart', okay? Shut the fuck up and stop talkin' to me. I obviously am not interested in you, so just give up already. Jesus christ." I shouted. "You'll get revenge fer sayin' that..." Tim said. "Yeah. Sure. Yer the one who'll get the revenge." I said slyly, walking over to Steve. "When you fight Tim later, be sure to tell him I told you to beat him up, okay?" I said, smirking. "Alright." He replied. I ran back over to Dally. 

The Socs starting arriving car after car. It looked like they had less people then us. It looked like this would be a pretty easy fight. The Socs lined up in front of us, and one of them started talking to Darry. "I'll take you.." The Soc said dangerously. "Go ahead." Darry said, walking up. The Soc punched him in the face, and the rumble started. I was staying as close to Dally as I could, just incase I would get hurt bad. I trying to beat up Randy, but he ran away. Some of the Socs were crawling on the ground and tripping people, and punching and kicking they're sides. Everyone in the gang looked like they weren't getting hurt at all.

Some Socs were on the ground, and some were running or crawling away. Tim's outfit and ours were yelping and jumping for joy. We won. After the screaming and yelping, we all were walking with Tim. His gang decided to leave because they were getting bored. Steve winked at me, and walked up to Tim from behind, and said, "Dani told me to beat you up." He was choking Tim and punching him in the sides really hard. Tim punched him back a few times, and Steve punched him some more. Tim fell to the ground and Steve was on top of him, punching him in the face redundantly. After Steve finally stopped beating up on Tim, I went over to him and kicked him in the side afew times and started laughing.

We all started walking down the street to get to Pony's house, when I heard footsteps behind me. I looked back and saw nothing. Suddenly, I heard a loud noise that sounded like a gunshot. I felt a sharp pain in my back. Then I realized I had gotten shot. I fell to the ground in pain, holding on to the wound. Blood was flowing through my hand and down my side. "Dani!" Voices were screaming. I heard a voice laughing in the bacround, and sat up for a minute. I saw Tim, running away. I kept hearing voices around me, but I understood nothing. I also saw faces surrounding me, but everything was blurry. I suddenly couldn't see anything, and I couldn't hear anything either. I felt like I was going to die.


	7. Chapter 7

My vision and hearing were starting to come back. I still felt as if I were going to die. I sat up and lifted up my hospital gown. I saw a bloody bandage on my lower back, and it hurt like hell every time I sat up. I layed back down and saw Dally, sitting on a chair and looking out the window. I cleared my throat and Dally turned around. He grinned and looked at me.

"Hey guys, Dani's awake!" Dally yelled, walking to the door of my hospital room. 

"Hey, Dani," Pony said, "How ya doin'?" Two-Bit and Johnny followed Pony in.

"Okay, I guess," I replied, looking up at the ceiling, "Man, I hate this place. Hospitals scare the hell outta me. I wanna leave." 

"How many days 'till ya can get outta here, Dani?" Two-Bit asked. "Two days. Seriously, there's absolutely nothing to do in here for two days. I'm gonna go insane, man..." I said. Dally slightly smirked.

"Ya know, you could just walk outta here if your careful enough.."I smirked back.

"Yeah. I guess I could.. But I'll wait 'till everything's clear with the nurses and doctors and junk."

"Okay." Dally said and sat back down on a chair.

"So what's goin' on with Tim? Did he get arrested?" I asked.

"Naw, he didn't.. He-.. He's out hidin' somewhere, man.." Johnny said. He was really pale.

"Oh. Anything wrong, Johnnycakes?" I asked him. He just shook his head and walked over to the corner. "Mmkay.." I said.

"Dani.." Two-Bit said.

"What?" 

"You look awful sexy in that hospital gown." Two-Bit smirked.

Dally glared at him, and started chasing him around the room. It made me laugh for the first time in a few days.

"Thanks, Two-Bit.." I half-smiled.

"Yer welcome." He replied, still running from Dally. 

Dally chased Two-Bit out the door, and Johnny kinda got the hint that he was sapposed to leave too, so he did. Dally hopped up on the hospital bed and layed down beside me, holding my hand.

"So, how are ya?" Dally asked me.

"Fine."

"Did they take the bullet out?"

"Yeah. If they didn't, do ya think I'd still be alive right now? Probably not." I laughed.

"Oh. Sorry." Dally replied, putting his hand on my back.

"Ouch.." I moaned.

"Sorry," He said, moving his hand, "I love you.."

"I love you more," I said, putting my head on his chest. I paused for a second and eyed him. "I think I might be ready to seak outta here."

"Alright. Umm.. Grab yer clothes and any thing else ya want, and follow my lead." Dally said, getting up from the bed. 

I nodded and got my clothes. I sneakily followed Dally through the halls as quiet as possible. Two-Bit was behind me and Johnny was on one side of me. I threw my ID bracelet into the trash can, and walked up to the door.

"Hold it right there!"

I turned around and saw a doctor and a nurse running after me.

"Shit." I muttered under my breath, "What do we do?"

"Run." Dally said, running out the door into his car. We all followed him, and Johnny got into the passengers seat and Two-Bit and I got into the back. Dally drove away as fast as he could, and before we knew it there were cops following us. Dally sped up a bit, and the cops were at least 20 feet away from us. He parked the car in an abandoned alley.

"Umm.. Where the hell are we gonna go?" I asked.

"The Curtis house, I guess." Dally replied.

"No. I told the doctors I lived two places. The Curtis house, and my own house."

"Well what are we gonna do then?! Go campin'? Jesus Christ.." Dally said.

"Great idea!" I smirked.

"No. I ain't goin' campin'." Dally said.

"Yes yew are. Don't it sound like fun, Two-Bit? Johnnycakes?"

I asked"Yeah! It kinda does.." Two-Bit said. Johnny just nodded and smiled.

"We could camp by a river in the woods or somethin'. Darry has a buncha tents and other camping junk.. We could just ask him for it. The whole gang could come. We could bring marshmallows and... Have a fire. It'd be romantic." I smiled.

"Fine..." Dally sighed, speeding to the Curtis house. He ran into the house and told them what to bring.

They brought out a bunch of sleeping bags, tents, food, and a guitar. They brought some fire wood out too. I wondered why they had that. Pony, Darry, Soda, Steve and Cadi all brought some clothes and jumped into the back of Darry's truck with all of the stuff. Darry drove, and I noticed Pony still seemed ticked off at Darry for hurting him. I would have thought that Pony would have forgave him already, but I guess not. Dally followed Darry to this small place by a river, that had a whole bunch of bugs, trees and grass. I was starting to get second thoughts about the whole camping idea. I hate bugs.

We got out of the car and Darry and everyone else got out of his truck. We sat up camp and Darry started a campfire. We sat on a few peices off fire wood and got out marshmallows and hot dogs.

"Ya wanna tell ghost storys?" Two-Bit asked.

"Yeah, sure. But first I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'll be back." Soda said, walking away.

"I have a good one," Steve said, "Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Sally. She was an orphan, and had one brother that was a police officer named Nick. Every time Sally's brother was home, he would sit on the couch and stare at the corner of the living room, talking to it like he would his mom and dad. He would talk to it in German, even though the family spoke only english."

"Say somethin' in German, Johnnycakes." Two-Bit inturupted.

"Aw shut up, Two-Bit!" Johnny said.

"Shut up, guys. Okay. One night, Sally was at the library, lookin' up stuff about fish, since she just got one a few days back. She read this thing that said if something was going to go wrong, the fish would swim up and down 10 times. So she went home, fed her fish, and layed down in bed. She was staring at her fish and suddenly she heard a loud sound. She looked at the door and didn't know what it was, so went back to staring at the fish. It was going crazy, and swimmin' up and down. Sally decided to go check what it was, and she found her brother, sitting on the bathroom sink, stabbed a bunch of times with peices of the mirror. On the remaining mirror peices, it said something in German, and then in English it said 'We love you Nick. From Mom and Dad.' Sally tried to pronounce what it said on the mirror, but... Somethin' happened.. Hmm.. I can't remember what."

Right after he got done telling the story, A familiar voice came screamed. The person was behind us and the scream scared us something awful. Well, Dally didn't seem very scared. Neither did Two-Bit, Steve or Darry. But Cadi, Pony, Johnny and me were shaking like leafs.

"I'm sorry, guys. I just had a sudden urge to do that, man." Soda said, sitting on the ground and putting his head in Cadi's lap.

Dally saw me shaking, so he wrapped his arms around me and held me for awhile. "You smell nice." I said, smirking. "Thanks, darlin'. Yew smell nice too." He smirked back.

"Let's play truth or dare." Pony said.

"Alright. Yer turn first, Dani! Truth or dare?" Two-Bit asked.

"Umm.. Dare." I replied.

"Okay. Hmm... Go make-out with Steve in the woods for three minutes." Two-Bit said.

My eyebrows suddenly raised. I looked at Steve and he was slightly smirking. Dally looked kinda mad.

"Okay." I said, smiling, "Come on, Stevie." I walked out into the woods with Steve.

"You sure ya wanna do this? It'll make Dally real mad." Steve asked.

"It was just a dare, Steve. It don't mean nothin'." I said. Steve nodded and reached for me. We started making out on the ground, and Steve was on top of me.

After a while, the gang came and found us.

"Okay, yer three minutes are up." Pony said. Steve got off, and we stood up and went back to the fire.

"Your turn Dally!" I exclaimed, "Truth or dare?"

"Truth." He said kinda angrily.

"Okay.. Have you ever cheated on a girl?" I asked.

"Yeah." He said. "Who?" I asked. 

"You." He said, smirking. I clutched my fists and gave him a cold stare. "Come on, Dani. I'm just kiddin'." He said that sort of sarcasticly.

I ignored him and looked away. I started to walk through the woods, and I noticed Dally was following me.

"Leave me the hell alone!" I said rather loudly.

"No! You're the only girl I've ever cared about, Dani! I ain't lying! All those times I said I loved you I meant it, man! I do love you. More than any chick I've ever known!" He screamed.

"Yeah? Then why'd ya say that you cheated on me? Huh? I don't know if it's true or not! How the hell could I belive you about anything?" I asked.

"Marry me." Dally said, turning me around. 


	8. Chapter 8

"Marry you?" I asked, wide-eyed.

"Yeah." Dally replied.

"Are you serious Do you think I would _really_ marry you right now? This isn't exactly the right moment to propose. And I've only been dating you for like.. Three or four days." 

"So?"

"So... It's a no." I said, walking back to the campfire.

"Okay, fine. Are.. Are you breakin' up with me?"

I shrugged. "I don't know."

Dally kicked some dirt around and followed me. We sat down two seats away from eachother. How stupid did Dally think I was? Marry him when I was pissed off at him? Boy, he sure can be really dumb sometimes.

"What crawled up your ass?" Two-Bit asked.

"Nothin', Two-Bit. I'm happy. See?" I smiled a huge smile.

"Yeah, you're happy 'cause you dumped me, ain't you?" Dally asked, glaring at me. 

"Oh yeah. I'm really happy because of that!" I said sarcasticly.

"Shut up." Dally said.

"No." I said. 

"Yes." 

"No."

"Ye-..." Dally began. Darry cut him off by telling us both to shut up. "No! I ain't gonna shut up. She ain't got no reason to break up with me if I didn't do anything!" 

"Yes I do!"

"No, you don't." Dally said.

"Shut up you guys! Just shut up! I hear yellin' and screamin' enough at home!" Johnny yelled putting his head in his hands. I scooted next to him and gave him a big hug. "I'm sorry, Johnnycakes!" I said, still hugging him.

"It's okay," He said, "I'm real tired. I'm goin' to bed."

"Alright. Me too." I said, glaring at Dally one last time before I went to bed. He gave that look back to me, and crawled into a tent. I gave Pony his usual hug, then crawled into a tent with Johnny and Pony. Soda and Cadi were with each other, and Darry, Steve and Two-Bit shared one big tent. I fell asleep kinda fast. I was really tired.

In the middle of the night, a toe nudged against my side through the tent. It made me scream a little, so it woke up Pony and Johnny. Sodapop stuck his head into our tent, and asked, "Ya wanna go look around with me?"

"Yeah, sure." Pony said.

Johnny shrugged. "Okay." They both got up and went out.

"You commin', Dani?" Soda asked.

"No." I said, pulling some sheets over my head. They walked away. I fell asleep a few times during the night, but I kept having a feeling that something was outside. I was scared, and kind of feeling guilty about how mean I was being to Dally. I don't think he cared much though. 

I transfered quickly from my tent to Dally's, and layed down beside him. I grabbed all of the covers because it was really cold outside, and I saw one of Dally's eyes open. He caught me look at him and started pretending he was asleep. I threw my arm around his side and moved really close to him. "I know you're awake." I said.

"Yeah. I am. Why are you in here?" Dally asked.

"Because, I thought things were outside, and I was scared, okay?"

"Okay, why'd ya come in here? Why not Darry's tent?"

"Because. You're in here." I said, with a sinister smile on my face.

"Well ain't that sweet." He said, roughly taking the covers away from me.

"Look, Dal... I'm real sorry. I... I just didn't know if you were lying or not.. About the cheatin' on me thing.. And.. I think it's kinda too early to get married."

He turned twards me, laying on his side. "Yeah.. I thought it was kinda stupid to do that anyways."

"If ya would've waited a few more months, I think I might have said yes."

"Really?"

I nodded. "Yep."

Dally smiled, and eyed me up and down, slowly. He grabbed my shirt collar, and put his face close to mine. "I want you."

I cocked an eyebrow and smirked. "Ya do?"

He moved his body even closer to mine, still holding my shirt collar. "Yeah... I want ya very.. very.. badly.." 

He layed me down on my back and got on top of me. He started kissing my neck roughly. I took his shirt off and wrapped my arms around him, kissing his lips. He took off his pants and started taking off mine. I think you know what happens after that. (I just don't really wanna discribe it.)

I was laying there, half-asleep, next to Dally when I saw three silhouetted figures on the tent. I heard laughing and talking. I noticed that the zipper on the tent was un-done. 

"Dally.." I whispered, shaking him.

"What?" 

"Look.." I said, pointing to the shadows.

"What the fuck..." He said, putting his pants on. I got dressed too.

Dally poked his head out of the tent, and I heard running. I followed Dally out of the tent and saw Johnny, Pony and Soda getting chased by Dally around the tent.

"Jesus Christ, guys! Were you watching the whole damn time?" I asked.

Pony sorta giggled. "Nooo.."

"You're discusting!!"

Pony got into a laughing fit. It was starting to get lighter outside. It was around 7:00 am. He was laughing so loud almost everyone woke up. Johnny was slightly smiling. Soda was laughing too.

"Time to get up!" I screamed really loud. Everyone came out of their tents.

"What time is it?" Darry asked.

"7:03 am." I said, looking at a alarm clock.

"Aww hell. I'm late fer work." Darry said. Pony rolled his eyes. He was still kinda mad at him. Darry changed clothes in a tent, and grabbed his tool belt. I kinda laughed at him. He looked really weird.

Darry cocked an eyebrow and said, "See ya'll later, guys."

"Seeya." We said.

"What should we do now?" I asked.

Dally looked around. "Ya see them docks over there?"

I nodded. "Yeah..."

"Follow me." He said, walking over to the docks. Johnny, Pony, Soda, Cadi, Steve, Two-Bit and I followed. Dally hopped into a really big, nice boat, and started hotwiring it.

"What are you doin'?!?" I exclaimed.

"What's it look like I'm doin'? We're gonna take this here boat out for a ride." Dally smriked. The boat started, and everyone got in. Dally found a 12-pack of beers in the cooler, and took them out. He also found a few fishing poles and a blanket.

Almost everyone took a beer, and Soda took two, suprizingly. He hardly ever drinks. After a few beers, Soda was starting to act _really_ weird. But it was funny. Soda was being really loud and obnoxious. He started hitting Cadi with a fishing pole, but it didn't look like it hurt much.

"Soda! Knock it off!" Cadi said. Soda put a worm on the end of the pole and put it in front of Cadi's face. "EWWW!!!" She yelled. Soda laughed really hard and casted the line out into the lake.

After 15 minutes or so of watching Soda fish, he finally gave up. "DAMMIT!!" He yelled, throwing the pole down on the floor roughly. We were laughing really hard. Cadi was the only one who didn't seem to be enjoying it. I reached my hand into the water, and felt a fish. I picked it up and started lightly hitting Cadi with it.

"Perk up!" I said loudly. I hit Cadi with the fish once more and threw it back into the water. Cadi yelled really loud. It killed my ears.

"SHAAADDUUPPP!!" Soda yelled to Cadi.

Cadi frowned and layed down on a blanket on the floor of the boat. Dally was driving the boat really wildly.

Soda leaned over the boat and threw up, and then he fell into the water. Two-Bit sighed and dove in after him, helping him back up. Johnny was sitting on the edge of the boat, and he accidentally fell in too. I jumped into the discusting lake water and helped him up. He was shivering alot. He looked really adorable.

"Aww..." I said to Johnnycakes. I sat on one of the couches on the boat and patted my lap for Johnny to sit down. I wrapped my arms around him and held him so I could try to warm him up. He blushed a little. I layed back and he layed back onto my stomach. "You're a cute little kid, Johnnycakes." I smiled.

"I-I'm the same age as you, though.. If I'm a little kid, you are one too, ain't ya?" Johnny grinned.

I giggled and looked at Dally. "Dally, am I a little kid?"

"No, darlin'.." He said, raising his eyebrows and smirking.

I looked back at Johnnycakes. "Huh. I guess I ain't a little kid. I suppose that means you aren't one either." I said, smiling. I gave Johnny a noogie and held him some more.

Dally cranked the radio up and 'My Girl' by The Temptations came on. Soda grabbed Cadi's hand and started to dance with her. "My girrrrl, talkin' 'bout my girrrrl.. MY GIRL! OOOHHH, OOOHHH.." Soda sang really loud. Dally turned the radio off as soon as he started singing the second verse.

Everyone started laughing. Soda accidentally dropped Cadi on the ground and Soda hassily picked her up again.

"Sorry. Hey, how's my horsey doin'?" Soda asked, slurring his words together.

"Fine." Cadi said.

"That's good, man." Soda said, falling down on the blanket with Cadi.

I stared out to the lake, and began to get really tired. I didn't get much sleep because I had so many interuptions in the night. My eyes closed slowly and I fell asleep with Johnnycakes on me.


	9. Chapter 9

I opened my eyes quickly as I heard music blaring. I saw Johnny just waking up on my lap, and Dally turning the radio up on the boat. Everyone else was awake on the boat.

"Jesus Christ... Turn the radio down.." I shouted over the music, rubbing my eyes.

"Sorry," Dally said, smirking slightly and turning it down.

"It's okay."

I looked over at Johnny, and he was dry. I was kinda wet though. "Look what ya did!" I said loudly at Johnny.

"W-what?"

"I'm all wet." I sighed.

"I-I'm sorry! I... I didn't mean to getchya wet, Dani. I promise!" Johnny said.

"Aww, it's okay. I was just kiddin' anyways." I said, messing up his hair. Johnny smiled and leaned back on me. It was starting to get dark again, so Dally decided to drive the boat back to the docks. We all got out of the boat, and went back to camp. We packed up camp and put everything in the back of my truck. It could barely even fit. We had a hell of a time trying to close the trunk. Everyone sat on the trunk and it finally closed.

"Hey, where'd Cadi go?" I asked.

"She left a while ago," Soda shrugged, "I dunno why."

"Oh.." I said.

We piled into my car and drove to the Curtis house. There was a note for me in the mail.

"_Dear Dani,  
We are afraid to tell you that you're house is no longer yours. We're going to either distruct the house and construct a convenience store or put it up for sale. You haven't payed the bill for over 3 months, and we're sorry, but you have to move right away. Some neighbors have noticed that you haven't even been over to you're house in quite a while. Please move as soon as possible. Thank you.   
Sincerely,  
Tulsa Morgage Company"  
_  
"Shit!" I said, throwing the letter away violently.

"What's wrong?" Soda asked.

"S-.. Soda, do you think I could... Maybe.. Live with ya'll for a while?" I asked.

"Yeah! That'd be great! But I'd have to ask Darry first.. What happened?"

"I gotta move outta my old place... Them damn morgage people sent me a letter tellin' me I gotta go."

"Oh. Do ya need help movin' er somethin'?" Soda asked. 

"Yeah, sure." I said. We all piled into the car and went to my house. We walked inside and I got out a bunch of boxes from our closet. It was kinda depressing to move out of here - It was pretty much the only memory I had of my parents. I didn't really have any pictures of them. I sighed, and started getting some stuff.

"Only get the stuff I really need," I said, "Don't get furniture and stuff. Just everything in my room, besides my bed and dresser." 

"Okay, Dani." Dally, Pony and Two-Bit ran up the stairs to my room. Everyone else was downstairs packing my stuff for me.

"Ya know, I really appriciate ya doin' this for me." I said, smiling.

Soda shrugged. "It's the least we could do, man." He returned the smile and started putting more stuff into boxes and carrying them out to the truck. I was surprized that he got sober so quick. Everything downstairs was all gone. I slowly creeped up the stairs and peaked my head into my room. It smelled kinda discusting in there. Dally was holding up a pair of my underwear, with Two-Bit to the left of him and Pony to the right. They were smirking and laughing. I stomped into there, and suprized Dally with me catching him. I grabbed my underwear from his hands quickly and put it into my drawer

I glared at them for a moment. I narrowed my eyes. "Go clean the bathroom, please. It's to the left. It ain't the downstairs bathroom - That ones all clean. But since you apparently weren't doing anything important, you wouldn't know."

"Oh, we were surely doin' somethin' important, darlin'." Two-Bit smirked. Dally laughed a little and smirked, strutting into the bathroom. I gathered all of my clothes and put them into suitcases. I took my pillow, my stuffed animal (Shut up, I know I'm kid-ish), an alarm clock, and a few other random things in my room. I glanced over at my dresser. I frowned as I saw a dead fish in a fishbowl, sank to the bottom, in puke-green colored, moldy water. I forgot that I had a fish. Man, I'm dumb. It's name was goldie, hence it was a goldfish. I was 14 when I got it, and it used to be my only friend. My mom and dad never really got along that well. Sometimes they would get along fine, but my dad lost his job once and my mom just started going off on him. My mom ran out on him, and my dad died a few years back from a heart attack.I wished I had a few siblings so I wouldn't have been all lonely when dad died. But I'm happier now, I guess.

I went into the bathroom and was surprized to see Dally, Pony and Two-Bit actually cleaning. I almost puked when I was carrying the fish bowl into the bathroom. It smelled horrible. I flushed it down the toilet and threw the bowl in the garbage can.

"Man, we just emptied that.." Pony said, frowning.

"Well empty it again." I said, smirking.

"Fine.." Pony grimaced, taking the garbage can and walking downstairs.

I took the box with all of the stuff from my room and put it in the trunk of my car. I walked back inside, glancing around. Boy, did my house look different. I sighed and stuck my thumbs in my jean pockets. I layed down on the floor and closed my eyes. When I opened my eyes, Dally was stratiling above me. It scared me half to death.

"Hey." I said.

"Hey." Dally said, sitting on my stomach.

"Whatchya doin'?" He asked.

"Layin' down."

"That's interestin'." He said.

"Mmhmmm."

Dally and I were staring at eachother for a second, then he started tickling me.

"D-D-D-Dally! St-Stop it!" I said, laughing.

"No!" He smiled, tickiling my ribs.

A smirk came over my face and I started tickiling him too. He started laying on his stomach so I couldn't tickle him anymore.

"I like your pants..." I said.

"Thanks. Ya wanna wear 'em?"

I cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah, sure. But what'll you wear?"

"Your pants."

"Okay." I laughed. I took my pants off and he took his off. Just then, everyone came downstairs.

"Woah! What's goin' on here?" Two-Bit smirked.

"We're switchin' pants." I said, slipping on Dally's pants. Dally put mine on, well tried to at least, and they ripped right in the butt area.

"Nice goin'..." I laughed.

"I can't go around like this all day..." Dally smirked.

"Oh yes ya can. I ain't takin' these pants off." I smiled.

"What am I gonna wear?"

"My pants. You can change into one of Darry's pair of jeans later." I said.

"Man... Fine..." Dally frowned, walking to my car. We all crammed into my car again, and went back to the Curtis house. Darry was already home.

We walked into the house all huddled into a group. I nervously walked to the side of everyone else. 

Soda approached Darry and asked, "Darry, Dani got kicked outta her house 'cause she didn't pay the bills er somethin'. Can she maybe live here for a while? She already has all of her stuff..." 

"Yeah, sure she can." Darry smiled. I ran up and hugged him.

"Thanks." I smiled.

"...Your welcome..." Darry said. We stopped hugging, and they all helped me put my stuff into the house.

"Thanks a whole lot for helpin' me and all, guys." I said.

"Yeah, no problem." Two-Bit said. 

I smiled at Two-Bit, then we all piled into the car again.

"How 'bout we go to the Dingo before Darry gets home to kill some time er somethin'?" Steve asked, driving.

I shrugged. "Yeah, It's okay with me. Whatta bout you guys?"

"Okay." Pony said. Everyone else nodded. Steve drove way too fast down the street. 

"Slow down!" I yelled.

Steve laughed a strange laugh, then started going too slow. I sighed. "Stevie... Go faster."

He started going too fast again, but before I could scream at him again, we parked at the Dingo. We all got out of the car, but Dally stayed. "Come on, Dal."

"No. These pants are embarrasing." He said.

"Huh. I thought you were tougher than that... Well, I guess little chicken Dally is too afraid to go out in public with some ripped pants. Boo-hoo." I smirked.

"Fine. I'll come out." He said with a frown on his face. He got out of the car, and hid behind Darry, Soda and Two-Bit. We walked into the Dingo and sat down in a booth.

"Shit..." Dally cursed under his breath. 

"What?" I asked.

"Nothin'. It's nothin'."

I noticed some slutty looking broad with blonde hair and alot of make-up on. She was chewing hard on her gum and flirting with a bunch of different guys. He spotted Dally and came over to us.

"Hey, sexy. Whatchya doin' lately? I'm getting lonely..." She whined.

I looked at Dally, angry. "Who is this?"

"My names Sylvia. Who are you?" Sylvia asked.

"Dani." I looked at Dally again. "Who is this?"

"She-She's my ex. Nothin' to worry about." Dally said.

"Oh... Okay." I said. 

"Sylvia, dammit.. Will you leave?" Dally asked. 

"No... I told you I was lonely, Dally... You're the only one I know who will give me some good company, if ya know what I mean." 

I was getting pretty mad. Dally was smirking. I clutched my fists and grabbed Sylvia's collar. "Leave." I said simply.

"Fine. I'll be waiting for you, Dally," She unbuttoned the buttons of her shirt quickly, "Just like this..." She walked away slyly. Dally was still smirking.

"I'm gonna go get a few cokes. I'll be right back." Dally said.

"Mkay..." I said, kinda depressed. Dally kissed me passionately.

"I promise. I'll be back, darlin'." He said, walking away with his hands in his pockets.

"That Sylvia is one bitch, ain't she?" Two-Bit said.

"Yeah.." I laughed. "She sure is." It was silent for 5 minutes or so.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom." I said.

"Okay." Two-Bit said.

I walked into the bathroom, and heard sounds of making-out in a stall. I went into a stall, stood on the toilet seat, and saw Dally 'entertaining' Sylvia in the stall. I got so mad that I told everyone to leave with me and ditch Dally there all by himself with no one to take him home. I figured Sylvia would, though.

When we got to the Curtis house, Darry was home. I told him about what happened with my house, and then I told him about what Dally did. "Boy, Dal can sure be an ass sometimes, huh? Yeah, you can live here. No problem." He said.

I smiled and hugged him. "Thank you! Hey, where'd Sodapop go?" I asked.

"He's at Cadi's house ridin' Mickey." Darry said.

"Oh, awesome." I smiled.

I unloaded all of my junk into the house and went into the kitchen with the gang. I was looking at the calendar they had in there, and I realized that school starts _tommorow._

"Pony!" I said rather loudly.

"Huh?" He said, walking over to the calendar.

"W-We start school tommorow..." 

"Aww, man..." Pony sighed. "Darry!" He screamed.

"Hmm?" He asked.

"Me and Dani-.. We needa go school shoppin'." Pony said with a frightened look on his face.

"Why?"

"I forgot we started school tommorow..." Pony laughed.

"Boy, you need to use your head alot more. I'll go school shoppin' for y'all. I got plenty of money. Does anyone else need anything?" Darry asked.

"Naw, I got all'a my school suplies." Steve said.

"I-.. I do.." Johnnycake said.

"I got all'a mine too." Two-Bit said.

"Alright. I'll be back in a while." Darry said.

"Seeya." I said.

I sighed and sat down on a chair at the table. Everyone was huddling around it, eating chocolate cake. "Gee," I said, taking a bite of cake, "This is a great way to spend the last day of summer vacation."

"Aw, Dani.. You'll be okay." Two-Bit said, "Won't she, guys?"

"Yeah. Theres plenty of other guys. Dally's just wild," Pony shrugged. 

"Yeah. I guess so. Aw shoot. I love you guys." I said, smiling. Johnny turned red.

"We.. Love ya too." Two-Bit said.

"Thanks." I said, wrapping my arms around Two-Bit for a long hug. Just as I started hugging him, I heard footsteps from the door. I stopped hugging him and turned around. It was Dally.

"Hey, doll. Why'd ya guys leave me at the Dingo?" He asked. I ignored him completely.

"Dally.. Sh-.. She ain't in a good mood." Two-Bit said.

"Why?" He asked.

"Why, you ask? **Why**? Well, gee.. Let's see.. I was walkin' into the bathroom because I was getting kinda bored waiting for you and the damn cokes. Then I hear noises of makin' out in a stall and I stand up on a toilet and I realized, 'Hey, theres Dally! Gettin' it on with Sylvia. Ain't that grand?!?'. So I leave 'cause I get so pissed off that I leave you there alone, with no one but Sylvia to bring ya home. By the way, did _she_ give you a ride here?" I yelled.

"Dani-.. Dani, I'm sorry.." He pleaded.

"I asked you a damn question."

"Yeah, she did. I'm sorry, Dani..." 

I sighed. "Stop apologizing. We're over. For good."

"Dani.. It.. It was an accident.. I'm serious.. I love you and only you.."

"How in the hell was it an accident? Huh? Makin' out with someone is no accident. And if you loved me so much why'd ya go with her?"

Then we got inturuped by a phone call. Pony ran to the phone and answered it.

"Dally," He said, "The phones for you." 

"Who is it?" I asked.

"Sylvia." 

"Oh, of course." I rolled my eyes. Dally hung up the phone angrily.

"Aww, what's wrong?" I said sarcasticly.

"Sylvia's pregnant." Dally said, putting his head in his hands.


	10. Chapter 10

I almost started bawling just then. Everyone's eyes widened.

"Y-.. You got Sylvia... Knocked up?" Two-Bit couldn't believe it. 

"Yeah..." Dally said in a depressed tone.

"So... You're gonna be a dad..?" Pony asked. Jeez, that really made me feel great..

"Yeah." Dally repeated.

"Wow..." Pony said, surprized. I couldn't picture Dally as a dad. I just couldn't. I sighed, and Darry sprinted through the door, with armfulls of bags.

"Could someone help me?" Darry asked.

"Yeah. I will." I said, walking into the living room. "_Dally got Sylvia knocked up_.." I whispered in his ear, taking two bags of school supplies from his arms.

"Are you kiddin' me?!" Darry yelled.

"No, I ain't. And shut up!" I said.

"Sorry. C' mon, let's take these into the kitchen." Darry said. We walked into the kitchen and dumped everything out on the floor.

"Choose whatchya want to use fer school. Here's yer lists. I picked up your scheduals too." Darry said, reaching into his pockets and throwing them on the floor.

"Thanks. Man, it's pretty stupid that we're starting school on a Friday..." I opened up my schedual and looked it over. Pony and I started comparing them. 

"Yeah, it sure is. Y-.. You're in _orchestra_? Are you serious?" Pony laughed.

"Yes. Yes I am. I'm actually rather good on the cello." I nodded.

"Huh. I didn't know that. Why didn'tchya ever tell us?"

"I didn't wanna," I said, looking at his list again. "Lets see... We have gym together.. and.. science.. and geography.. and lunch... and activity."

"Yay! Whatta bout you, Johnnycake?" Pony asked.

"Uh," Johnny said, looking at our scheduals, "I got all'a my classes with Dani except for science, geography, and I got got gym, lunch, and activity with ya'll."

I smiled. "Good. What about you, Steve and Two-Bit?" They plopped down beside us and took our scheduals.

"I gots homeroom with Dani, math with Dani, gym, activity and lunch with ya'll, and.. Readin' with Dani." Two-Bit said.

"And.. I only got gym, activity and lunch with ya." Steve frowned.

"Man, that sucks." I said. "Where's yer lockers at? Mines 446."

"Umm," Two-Bit said, snatching the other scheduals from everyone else, "Johnnycake's is 205, Pony's is 443, mines 303, and Steve's is 200."

"Aww.. Poor ol' Two-Bit's gonna be all alone." I smirked.

"I'm sure I can find any hot blonde broad who could entertain me." He said. I realized Dally was still there. I shot him a glare and he just stared at me with pleading eyes. It made me realize for the first time that Dally might actually have feelings. But I still hated him.

I looked through all of the stuff and got most black and red stuff. I thought they looked good together. I got a black binder thing, and a real tuff looking back-pack. It was kinda small though. I had a real hard time trying to fit everything into it, but Steve was kinda strong and he helped me close it. I decided to go take a shower after that. I have kinda long hair and I always put half of a container of conditioner on it for some weird reason. After I washed my hair, I started washing myself and heard the door creek open. Unfortunately, the shower curtain was clear so the person who came in could see me pretty good. "Who the hell is in here?" I yelled, trying to cover myself up.

"It is I, the almighty Two-Bit!" He did a super-hero pose and stared at me.

"Why are you in here?"

"Heh.. Well.." He started. I threw a shampoo bottle at Two-Bit's head and he ran away, yelling, "I just wanted to pee!"

I kinda laughed and turned off the shower. I dried off, changed into my pajamas, brushed my hair, then my teeth. I walked into the living-room with the dripping wet hair. I sat down on the couch next to Dally, because there wasn't really anywhere else to sit. "You smell good." Dally said.

"Mhmm." I said.

He put his arm around me and set his legs on the coffee table. I moved his arm, and glared at him. "You realize you're no longer my boyfriend, don't you?"

"Aww, why not? I'm sorry..." 

"**YOU GOT ANOTHER GIRL PREGNANT.**" I yelled. 

"Yeah, so?"

I rolled my eyes and moved onto the floor.

"You guys better be goin'. Ya'll got school in the mornin'." Darry said to Steve and Two-Bit.

"Alright. I'll give ya a ride, Johnnycake and Stevie. See ya, guys." Two-Bit said.

I walked over to Two-Bit and wrapped my arms around him and held him close. I felt like making Dally jealous. 

"Golly, I thought you'd be mad at me for spyin' on ya in the shower..." Two-Bit smiled.

"Not at all." I smirked, kissing him. "G' night, Two-Bit. Seeya tommorow, Steve and Johnny. Meet me at my locker tommorow mornin'." I said. 

"Alrighty. Seeya." Steve said, walking out the door. Johnny and Two-Bit followed. I heard the loud noise of Two-Bit's car leave. His muffler fell off a few days ago and Steve and Soda don't seem to have the time to get it fixed. I saw Dally grimacing and it made me smile. I know it was mean. I understood that he was depressed and all - but I didn't care one bit.

"Pony, Dani, you two best go to bed. Me and Dally are gonna stay up and and watch TV or somethin' 'till Soda gets home." Darry said.

"Where am I gonna sleep?" I asked.

"With me, I guess." Darry said.

"You'll squish me or somethin'!" I said in the most high-pitched voice I've ever used.

"Fine. Sleep with Pony. Soda'll be home in a while. He might make Pony scoot over and somethin', so you'll wake up.." He said.

I shrugged. "Oh well. I can sleep through anythin'. I'll be fine. Good night." I smiled. I glared at Dally again and then went off to bed with Pony. He took off his pants and had only a shirt on. I gave him his hug (just like I do every night) and couldn't really get to sleep.

"Man, I'm excited for some weird reason. I can't get to sleep." I sighed.

"I'm excited too." Pony said.

"Well... Whatta ya wanna do?" I asked.

"I dunno. Whatta you wanna do?" He asked.

"I dunno." I smiled. I looked around the room. "You could read me a bed-time story..."

"Okay. I got this book when I was like.. Three years old." He opened the old-looking book and started reading 'Humpty Dumpty'. I fell asleep by the time all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again. Soda and Pony's bed was one of the most comfy beds I've ever slept in.

I got woken up rather rudely by Darry at 7:15 am in the morning. "Get up." He said loudly, shaking both of us at the same time. I opened my eyes and rubbed the sleep out of them. I looked over and saw Soda wasn't there - he probably went to work or something. I sleepily stumbled into the bathroom and put on a dark pair of jeans, black converse, a black t-shirt and a gray hoodie with random words on it in red, scratchy letters. I combed my hair, washed my face, brushed my teeth and I was ready for school. I hate that word. Man, school is like 182 days of prison or something. Like something you can never leave. There's no breaks, because you're almost always worring about school during winter break or any other break you have. Like summer. Sometimes I worry about school during summer and I just waste my summer away doing absolutely nothing. I don't know if that's how you think of school, but that's how I do. I sighed and sat on the couch. Well, I tried too. Dally was passed out on it. I sighed and went into the kitchen and ate a quick peice of toast, then I had to wait forever for Pony to get ready.

"Come on," I banged on the bathroom door, "You take longer than me to get ready."

"Hold on," Pony opened the door quickly. "I wanna look good for the first day. Do I look good?"

"Aww, you look adorable." I smiled. 

"That's not really want I wanted to hear..." Pony frowned.

"Fine.. Uh, you look good. Sexy. Yeah. Okay, let's go." I rushed.

"S-.. So you think I look ugly?" He grabbed his backpack.

"No! You look... Good, Pony. Real good." I smiled, grabbing my bag and following him.

"Thanks." He blushed. We got into the front of Darry's truck and he drove us to school. We were probably the first two there.

"Seeya later. Have a good day." Darry said.

"Seeya." Pony said. We got out of the truck and walked up to the school, finding a ton of kids inside. No one was outside. Pony and I walked to our lockers and opened them. Well, we tried too. I've always hated locker combinations, so I had to get Pony to help me with mine.

"Thankya darlin'." I said in a southern voice.

"Your very welcome, darlin'." He said. He went back to his locker and started unloading all of his stuff into it.

I got a binder full of notebooks, pencils, folders and my planner, and sat it on the floor. I neatly put the rest of my supplies on the top shelf of my locker, then closed it and grabbed my binder. Just then, I saw Two-Bit, Steve and Johnny appear by my locker.

"Heya." I said.

"Howdy." Two-Bit said.

I looked my schedule over again.

_PER__Course__Teacher__  
1 (A): Orchestra Mr. Swanson  
1 (B): Orchestra Mr. Swanson  
2 (A-B) Math Mrs. Carpender  
3 (A-B) Reading Mrs. Mathews  
4 (A-B) Language Arts Mr. Smith  
5 (A-B) Lunch/Activity Mrs. Basket  
6 (A-B) Phys. Ed Mr. Havili  
7 (A-B) Science Mrs. Rich  
8 (A-B) Geography Mr. Donald  
9 (A-B) Homeroom Mrs. Hives_

I laughed at the 3rd period teachers name. "Hey Two-Bit, do you got any relation to Mrs. Mathews?"

"No." He smirked. "She seems nice, though."

"That's good. I'm gonna go to my first class. See ya'll later." I said, walking away with a 5 pound binder in my hand. It took me forever to walk to the orchestra room because it was all the way on the other side of the building, but I made it okay. I got my cello and sat down. 

"Welcome to my class," Mr. Swanson said. "This year you will be learning alot of things." He started handing out a song called 'Eclipsys". I sucked at reading music so I play it by ear. "I know some of you just joined this year, so other players- don't make fun of them. You weren't that good once either. The main thing I want you to do in class is have fun." He smiled. He was a middle-aged man who I took summer lessons from. He could be strict - but he was cool. He let us play popular songs on the radio. Some of the songs I didn't like - others were pretty tuff songs. We started to play the Eclipsys song... Or atleast tried to play it. Finally, class was over.

I walked to math class, and put my binder on a desk. Johnnycake walked in with his arms filled with stuff. I thought he was gonna tip over. "Lemme help ya with that." I said, taking some stuff from his hands and setting it down on the desk next to me. I gave him a hug, and one of the associates yelled at me and telled me to stop. I sat down akwardly and listened to the teacher talk about herself for 20 or so minutes, then we did an activity thing to learn names. Class was over. I hate math. My teacher was nice, but I just hate numbers and everything like that. Anyway, I followed Johnny into reading, one of my favorite classes, and sat down in the middle of him and Two-Bit.

"Boy... Mrs. Mathews is one looker, huh, Johnnycake?" Two-Bit asked. 

"She's okay." He said.

"Aw shoot, Johnny. She's real good lookin'. Maybe it comes from the last name." He smirked.

"Shut up, Two-Bit. I love reading. I wanna pay attention." I smiled. 

"Sorry." He said, trying to pay attention.

"Welcome to this years reading class." Mrs. Mathews said. "I really hope we have fun this year. My name is Mrs. Mathews and..." She went on introducing herself. I popped a peice of gum into my mouth and started reading. After a while of hearing her ramble on and on about herself (She seemed really nice though), she started taking roll. She called off everyone's name and then said, "Keith Mathews?"

"Huh?" Two-Bit said. Everyone started laughing at his real name. "Shut up." He said, laughing along with them.

"Yeah, I'm here."

"You have a very nice last name, Keith." Mrs. Mathews said.

"Yeah, thanks." Two-Bit said. Class was over, and I said bye to Two-Bit, and followed Johnny again to our next class, language arts. I loved this class too. I'm alot like Ponyboy - I love to write and read. All the teacher did was introduce himself. He seemed nice.

I walked over to my locker to put all of my crap away for lunch, and I finally got the locker combination write. Suddenly, a note came flying out of my locker. It had my name and a huge heart on the outside of it. I slowly opened it up, wondering who it was from.

_"Dani, meet me outside at lunch. At the back of the school. I need to ask you something."_The note said. It didn't have a name on it. I rushed to get my lunch. I got a hot dog, mac and cheese, an ice-cream cone and a bag of chips. I walked outside with my lunch and saw someone with his back turned forward, so I couldn't see who he was really well.

"Hey," I said akwardly, setting down on the grass. The person turned around and I realized it was Two-Bit.

"Howdy." Two-Bit said, stealing one of my chips.

"Wh-... What'd ya want me for?" I asked.

"I wanted to know if.. Uh.. If ya wanted to.. Ya know.. Be my girlfriend? I understand if ya don't wanna, 'cause ya just broke up with -" Two-Bit said.

I inturupted, saying, "Yeah. I'll be yer girlfriend. I don't care about Dally." I smiled. I knew I was lying about that though. The 'I don't care about Dally' bit. I really did still care about him.

"Really?!" Two-Bit said cheerfully.

"Yeah." I said.

"Whee haw!" He smiled, doing one of those weird jumps in the air where you click your feet together. He spun me around and tackled me onto the ground. I laughed. Two-Bit held me close on the ground and started kissing me. Suddenly the bell rang to go to our next class, but he didn't care. He started making-out with me.

"This is not acceptable!" The principal was behind us. The tardy bell had already rang like.. two minutes ago. "Get to class! Now!" He yelled. We hopped up and ran to our next class, activity. It was kinda like a recess.

We ran to Johnny, Pony and Steve. "Where ya been? We've been lookin' all over for ya'll." Pony said.

"Uh.. Heh.. We were outside.. Kissin' and whatnot.. Ya know, we're goin' out now.." Two-Bit said. "Then the damn principal caught us and told us to go inside."

One of the teachers watching us told us to watch our language. "Aww screw off." Steve said to the teacher.

"That's it. I've had enough of you guys! You have detention after school!" The teacher said.

"But... But I have to work!" Steve exclaimed.

"It doesn't matter! You have detention after school! Along with Keith!"

"Aww c'mon.." Two-Bit whined.

The teacher rolled her eyes and walked to the principal's office. "Great.. This is just great." Steve said. The bell rang, and we all got our P.E. uniforms and went into the changing room. There was a bunch of Socy girls in there, talking about cars and junk. I rolled my eyes and just went into the bathroom to change. I thought I looked pretty stupid in my uniform. My socks were too long. I sighed and went back out to the gym. I sat with Two-Bit, Steve, Pony and Johnny.

"Welcome to my class. Today we will be running the mile." Mr. Havili said. My god. I hate running the mile. They could have gave us a damn warning before we ran it! I thought, panicing. I suck at running. If I put my head to it I could probably run really fast, but I usually just walk the whole time. "Let's go outside." Mr. Havili pushed the door opened and we all flooded out of it. We walked to the track. "Ready... Set... Go!" Mr. Havili said. We all started running. I ran real slow, but Pony was ahead of everyone. By my 2nd lap I was walking. I was dragging my feet and I felt like I was going to die. Or pass out. Either one. Suddenly, I had an idea. There wasn't really a way that they could tell if I really went around four times, and almost everyone was done already. I was only going to go around one more lap. I quickly ran my 'last' lap and stopped. I fell on the ground next to Pony. Man, I was tired. My ribs hurt, too. Steve finished next, then Johnny, then Two-Bit.

The rest of the day was pretty boring. All the teachers just introduced themselves. I walked to my locker to put all of my crap in. I actually was getting my locker combination down real well. Suddenly, as I set my binder down on the top shelf of my locker, I felt two arms go around my waist. I jumped and quickly turned around to see who it was.

"Hey! Ya scared me!" I turned around to face him, smiling.

"Good." He smirked, kissing my lips. The smirk he did reminded me of Dally. I couldn't stop thinking about him.

"Hey! No kissing at school!" A teacher shouted.

"No kissing at school." Two-Bit mocked the teacher in a high voice.

"Would you like detention tommorow as well, Mr. Mathews?" She asked.

"No ma'm. I don't even want it today." He said.

"Then I'd probably stop if I were you." The teacher said. Two-Bit took his arms off of me and narrowed his eyes at the teacher, watching her walk away.

"Damn teachers," Two-Bit sighed, "Well, I best be gettin' to the detention room with Stevie. See ya later, darlin'."

"Have fun!" I smiled, looking over my shoulder and making sure no one was there. I kissed Two-Bit and he walked off.

I met up with Johnny and Pony and walked outside with them.

"Hey y'all. Where's Steve and Two-Bit?" Darry asked when we reached his truck.

"They got detention," I laughed.

"On there first day back? Boy..." Darry shook his head and laughed. Johnny, Pony and I piled into the truck and he drove us to the Curtis's.

"Yep. Me and him are goin' out now, ya know." I smiled.

"You and Steve?!" Darry asked.

"No! No... Two-Bit and me." I laughed.

"That's tuff. Dally's still at our place.. He might be pretty ticked 'bout that." Darry said.

"Great." I said sarcasticly.

"Yep." He parked the car in the drive way and hopped out. We all followed, and walked into the house. I sat down on a chair and Dally was eying me.

"Ya look good today, darlin'." Dally said. 

"Mmhm." I rolled my eyes and looked away from him. 

"Shoot, ya always do."

"Mmhm." I repeated.

"Hey, how 'bout we all go to the DX and visit Sodapop?" Darry said, comming out of the bathroom, clad in only a pair of jeans.

"Alright. Sounds good to me." I said getting up.

"Me too." Dally smirked, following me. I rolled my eyes again and got back in Darry's truck. After about five minutes of waiting, Darry finally came out, shaved and had a shirt on.

"'Bout time, golden boy. Ya don't gotta get all dressy just to go see Soda... Or do you?" Dally said. 

"Shut your mouth before I kick yer head in. Ya dig?" Darry said. Dally didn't answer.

When we got there, we walked up to Soda pumping someone's gas. He seemed to be having a hard time. 

"Where the hells Steve?!" He asked, sweating. 

"Uh.. He got detention. Along with Two-Bit." I smiled.

"Oh, that's just great! I gotta be here all day with no one to help me!? Man.." Cars were leaving and some were honking at him. I looked around and spotted Sylvia, leaning against a wall and smoking. She was drinking beer too.

"Shit, man..." Dally said, walking up to Sylvia. I could hear Dally screaming at her from a long ways away. Sylvia seemed drunk, which obviously isn't too good for a baby. Sylvia started crying and left in her car. Dally came back to us, itching the back of his neck. 

"She don't look too good." Darry said.

"No shit. I kinda figured that out a while ago." Dally sighed. Suddenly, we heard a bunch of honking across the street and a loud crashing noise. We all ran to the corner and saw Sylvia's car, tipped over on the side and crashed into a cement truck.

Dally quickly ran to Sylvia's car and tried to help her out, but it wasn't working too well. Soda ran back into the DX and called the cops. In no time, they were there with a ambulance, rushing her to the hospital. I couldn't care less if she was dead - I know it sounds mean, but she deserves everything she gets. Darry took us all to the hospital and we had to wait in a waiting room for a really long time. After about the 3rd hour of screwing around in the hospital, a doctor came to us with a depressed look on his face.

"I... I'm sorry to say this... But.. Sylvia and the baby are dead." The doctor said. Everyone's eyes widened. Dally started to cry. It was kinda suprizing. I'd never known he actually had feelings, though I felt sorry for him.


	11. Chapter 11

"W-was Sylvia drunk?" Dally asked, sobbing.

"Yeah.. She was." The doctor said. That made Dally cry a little more, but he tried not to show that he was crying. He wiped away his tears hurridly. It would kill me to have a kid of mine die. But Dally had the mother and kid die. Not just one, but both. I don't know if he really cared about Sylvia much, but he cared about the baby. Dally had to go in with the doctors to see if the baby was really his. That took even longer, so we just decided to leave.

We went back to the Curtis house. Two-Bit and Steve were there by then, home from detention. We told them about Sylvia. They didn't seem too depressed about it. Neither did I.

"Hey Stevie, why'd ya haveta get detention today? Huh? Work was like hell fer me today, man." Soda said, taking off his DX shirt.

"Boy, I'm sorry, Soda. It ain't my fault the damn teachers at school are a helluva lot stricter than they were last year." Steve said.

"It's okay. I guess. Just don't do it again. If I gotta do that one more time, man, I think I'm gonna quit."

Steve laughed and Soda narrowed his eyes at him. I layed down on my back on the couch and looked up at the ceiling. I wasn't feeling too hot. My stomach hurt, my head hurt and my throat hurt. Out of all of them, my throat probably hurt the most. I coughed a wheezing cough and held my stomach.

"You feelin' okay?" Two-Bit said, putting his cold hand on my forehead. "Ya feel hot."

"I'm fine." I said, looking up at him and grinning.

"Ya sure? That cough'a yours didn't sound too well."

"...Well... My throat kinda hurts.. And my stomach.. And my head.." I smiled.

"Hey, I'll do anything to make ya feel better. Just so Pony here won't get sick so he won't flunk outta school." Darry laughed.

"I won't flunk out just by missin' a couple days of school, Darry.." Pony said.

I inturupted their argument by saying, "Anything, huh?" I smirked evilly.

"Well.. I guess so. Just don't make it too over the top."

"Go make me some chicken noodle soup." I smiled. "And a big glass of chocolate milk. And a waffle. I've been cravin' one of those." I coughed again.

"How 'bout some chicken soup and some chocolate milk. We ain't got no waffles." Darry said.

"Fine, fine." I sighed. He stalked off into the kitchen. "Darry's gonna be my slave fer the rest'a the day." I smiled.

"I could be yer slave too, babe..." Two-Bit smirked.

"Maybe when I ain't so sick.." I smirked back.

"Alright." Two-Bit said frowning. Darry came walking back into the living-room with a tray and a glass of chocolate milk in one hand, and a big hot bowl of soup in the other. He sat the tray down next to me and then put the chocolate milk and soup on top of it. He sat a spoon next to the bowl. I picked up the spoon and ate some of the soup. It was so hot that I spit it out on Darry's face, who was sitting directly in front of me.

"Sorry!" I said, looking at his face. "It was hot!"

"No! I thought it was gonna be ice-cold!" He said, wiping his brow.

"Sooooorrrrryyyyy!" I repeated. Everyone was laughing.

"Great. Now I'm probably gonna get sick..." Darry said.

"We can be SICK BUDDIES!" I smiled, and did a super-hero pose.

"Okay, sure." Darry laughed. I blew on the soup a little bit and then finally ate some. I finished about half of it, and my stomach started hurting again. I drank all of my chocolate milk, and I still wanted some waffles. The chocolate milk made me feel a lot better. I sat up on the couch, taking a whole bunch of blankets that Two-Bit put on top of me onto the floor.

"Hey, hows about we go outside?" Two-Bit asked.

"Okay." Soda shrugged. We all followed him outside onto their lawn. I put my head on Two-Bit's stomach on the grass, which was kinda damp. I was almost asleep when I felt breathing on my right arm. I figured it was just Two-Bit, so I went back to sleep. I woke up suddenly when I felt someone on top of me.

I opened my eyes, and of course, it was Dally who was on top of me. "What do you want?!" I whispered. Two-Bit fell asleep. I didn't know where the rest of the gang went.

"You!" He whispered back, somewhat loudly. He started kissing my neck. For some reason, I wanted him so bad...

"What makes you think your gonna get me?! I **HATE** you. I mean it, too." I said, pushing him off of me.

"Aww, come on, babe." He looked down at my face from above and smiled. "The kid wasn't mine. Sylvia cheated on me, too. That lyin' son of a bitch..."

"Gee, you and Sylvia sure think alike, don't you?" I said. I grabbed Two-Bit's shirt and woke him up.

"Help me!" I said to Two-Bit.

"Get off'a her, Dal!"

"No!" 

Great. Two guys fighting over me. This had never happened to me before, but it kinda was nice. Before I knew it, Two-Bit had Dally in a headlock and was punching him in the ribs.

"Ya know, We're goin' out now. Me and Dani." Two-Bit said, punching him. Dally got loose and started to punch him too.

"Stop it! Please!" I yelled. They didn't stop, so I decided to break it up myself.

"Who are ya gonna choose?" Dally asked.

"Two-Bit. Sure, I like you... But ya lie too much." Dally rolled his eyes and strode into the Curtis house with his fists in his pockets and a dangerous look on his face. 

"Well... Uh... Whatchya wanna do now?" I asked. Two-Bit had a grin on his face and kissed me long and passionately. 

I smiled at him. Just then, Two-Bit's mom drove up in a crappy looking car, which was probably Two-Bit's.

"Keith! Get home! Now!" She yelled. She smiled a fake smile at me. 

"Seeya later." I said. Two-Bit pulled me into a long kiss again, but Two-Bit's mom inturupted us by honking her horn. Two-Bit sighed and left. I layed on my back and looked up at the pale-blue sky. There were absolutely no clouds at all. Unfortunately, Dally came back outside and was to the right of me. He layed on his side and was in a sexy pose.

"Hey." He said, slightly moving his head when he said it.

"Hi." 

He grabbed one of my hands and started petting them, from my wrist to my fingernails. "Your hands... They're real soft..." 

"...Thanks." I said. He put my hand across his stomach and started to kiss my neck, again. He got on top of me and started kissing my lips.

"Come on, baby!" He smirked. I sighed. I still loved him. I looked back at the window and saw Darry. I quickly pushed Dally off of me and got up.

"Leave me alone!" I screamed. I strode into the living room, just as Darry said supper was ready. Of course, Dally followed me in. I sat down angrily at the table and started eating. I stabbed the fork into the peice of meat I was eating and tore it off of the fork with my teeth. I glared at him all through supper, and he was smirking and junk at me. After supper was done, all I wanted to do was go to sleep. I wasn't exactly having the best day ever. Soda and Pony cleaned up the table, while I got my pajamas on and brushed my teeth. When I got out of the bathroom, Dally was right there. He pinned me up against the wall roughly, and started kissing me. "GET OFF!" I pushed him off of me, even though I didn't want to. He fell to the ground and started kissing up my leg.

"Why don't you leave me alone, Dally? I obviously **DON'T **like you anymore, okay? Just... Leave me alone..." I said, strolling into the bedroom. Darry was in there, looking at a magazine on the bed. He looked kinda sweaty.

"Whatchya readin'?" I asked, lying next to him.

"Nothin'! Nothin'..." He hid the magazine under his back.

"Darry..." I said, and reached under his back and pulled out a rather dirty magazine. "DARRY!" I raced out of the bed and went into the living room.

"DARRY'S LOOKIN' AT PORN! DARRY'S LOOKIN' AT PORN!" I yelled. Pony and Soda came racing into the living room. 

"Wo-woah.." Soda said. "I didn't know ya liked them kinda magazines, Darry."

Darry didn't reply. Pony was wide-eyed at the cover of the magazine. Darry snatched the magazine out of my hands and went into his bedroom. I laughed, then yawned. "I'm goin' to bed. Love ya'll." I gave Pony his routinely hug.

"So I don't get a hug?" Soda frowned.

"Nope!" I smiled. "Aww, I'm kiddin'." I gave Soda big hug and went into the bedroom. After a really long time of thinking about Dally, I fell asleep. I started to feel sick again.


	12. Chapter 12

It was a few weeks later. Football had started already and Two-Bit was the mascot, and Steve was a football player. I was sort of surprized that Pony didn't join football - He's real strong for his age. He's fast too.

I woke up the next morning with light blinding my eyes and someone's warm breath on my neck. "Good mornin'." I said, thinking it was Two-Bit.

"Hey." I heard a familiar voice say. It wasn't Two-Bit's voice, though. I turned over to see who it was, and it was Dally, laying next to me, clad in only underwear.

"Jesus Christ! Can't you sleep without me for once? I mean, your acting like a little kid with it's blanket or something." I said.

"I had alot of things on my mind. It was hard not to sleep with you, baby." He replied, putting his arm over my stomach. A part of me was saying, "_Don't say anything. Don't say one word." _and the other was saying, "_Screw Two-Bit! Dally's the best, and you know that." _I sighed. I thought about what I should do for a moment, and I saw Dally smirk at me. I almost went for that second choice, but I decided to go with the 'Don't say anything' idea. He'd have to get off of my case sooner or later... Hopefully.I took his arm off of my stomach and tried pushing him off of the bed. He didn't move at all. Suddenly, Cadi came in.

"Breakfast is ready. Soda... Man... He ain't the best cook. At least he made me some french toast. I hope it's edible." She smiled. She threw a pillow at Dally, who was fake-snoring loudly. "Get up, Winston. It's gettin' cold." Dally glared at Cadi and threw the pillow back at Cadi. It hit Cadi in the butt, and she took the pillow, went up to Dally, and hit him in the face with it. Then, Darry came in. "What the hecks goin' on in here?" He said, throwing down his apron. I started laughing at him.

"N-... Nice apron, Darry..." I bursted out laughing. Darry stared at me. Cadi threw a pillow at Darry, and Darry threw it back. Cadi started hitting Dally in the face again, but Dally had Cadi pinned down on the bed in a second. I got out of the room as soon as I could. I didn't want to be a part of that.

I strode into the kitchen, and saw Soda and Pony eating breakfast. "Hey. Soda, your girlfriend's gettin' it on with Darry and Dally in the bedroom. Just so ya know." 

"What are you talkin' about?! Are you kiddin' me?" Soda shouted.

Just then, Cadi came in with feathers in her hair. Darry and Dally followed. "Does it look like I'm kidding?"

"No it don't. What in the hell were y'all doin' in there?!" Soda asked loudly.

"We-... We were having a pillow fight..." Cadi said. "You aren't mad, are you?"

"Well... No.. I guess not." 

"Good." Cadi smiled, hugging Soda.

I grabbed a peice of cake, ate it real quick, and went into the bathroom to get ready. I did the usual things you do to get ready in the morning - brush hair, brush teeth, showered, got dressed, ect. I went back into the kitchen, freezing. It was near fall and it had already started to get cold. I was shivering, when a fairly muscular body hugged me from behind. I tilted my head back and saw Two-Bit. I smiled really big, then saw Dally glaring. It felt good to make him jealous. Or whatever he was feeling.

"Hey! When'd you get here?" I asked.

"Hmm. I've been here for a couple'a minutes. How long have you been here?" He smiled.

"About a month." I smiled back.

"Oh. Heh. Ya'll know what you should do tonight?" He asked.

"Cut your head off, feed it to Soda's horse, have Pony eat the horse on an airplane, he throws it up in one of them air sick bags, that gets thrown in the garbage and gets thrown off the plane and in a dump, then it rots for 5 thousand years, and a big ol' alien space-ship from space lands on it and crushes the whole world so your head is really _really_ small and ya need a telescope to look at it?" Dally asked.

"...We could do that, but.. Uh.. Maybe we should go to the football game instead? I'm the mascot, ya know. Steve's at practice. The game starts at 6:30. Y'all should come."

"The cuttin' your head off thing still sounds fun-..." I cut Dally off by pushing him against the fridge. He smirked and said, "Fiery today, huh?" I ignored him and rolled my eyes.

"Yeah! I betchya look sexy in your little mascot uniform." I smiled.

"I do. But not as sexy as _you'd_ look in it..." He smiled.

"Aw.. Thanks.." I blushed.

"No problem. Hey, I should be goin'. I'll see y'all after the game." Two-Bit said, grabbing a peice of cake and kissing me.

"Bye!" I said, smiling. After Two-Bit left, we all went into the living-room. Cadi went to go see if Johnny wanted to go to the game, so it was just me, Darry, Pony, Soda and Dally.

I sighed. I was really bored. I was in a house full of 4 fair-looking guys, and I was bored. "What should we do now?" I asked.

"You..." Dally grinned. 

"Shut up. I'm sick of your discusting comments. If we were going out, or even friends it would be different." 

"Speakin' of that, come talk to me, huh? Just for a few minutes." Dally said. I sighed and got up, following him. I leaned on the wall. Dally put his arm on the wall, right by my face. He was right in front of me, making his body press slightly against mine.

"Why can't we be friends now? I mean.. I ain't done nothin' bad for a while." He said.

"Pfft. Every single damn day you say something dirty, annoy me about going out with Two-Bit, want me to go back out with you... And other crap. I'm sick of it." I lied. I wasn't really sick of it.

"I'm sorry." He grinned. I knew he wasn't sorry. He's never sorry about anything. He pushed my hair out of my face with the side of his hand and rubbed my cheek with his thumb. "I really am sorry, sweetheart." I laughed a little and stared at the floor. I'd never heard him say "sweetheart" before, and he sounded really sexy when he said it. It was his accent, of course, that made it that way. I looked back up at him. He had a strange smile on his face.

"C' mon. Can't we just get along?" He asked, begging.

"Fine." I said. "I guess so."

"Cool." He said simply and backed off. We walked back into the living-room, and I was following right behind Dally. I sat on the couch, squished in between Pony, Darry and Dally. Soda was sitting on an over-stuffed chair in the corner of the living room. Dally poked me redundantly. 

"Knock it off!" I said, smiling.

"No." He smirked. I took a pillow from the couch and started hitting him on top of the head with it. He layed down on his back so that I was on top of him. He rolled around to get on top of me.

"RAPE!" I cried. I was really laughing. Suddenly, as I was yelling "rape" over and over, Cadi and Johnny came in. Johnny stared wide-eyed at us, and Cadi was laughing.

"Wh-.. What's goin' on?..." Johnny asked, bitting a nail.

"Get him off of me!" I yelled.

"Mmm.. You smell good.. It just makes me want you more.." He stated, applying pressure to my waist.

I was really close to kissing him, right then and there, in front of everyone. Almost everyone. But, I pushed Dally off onto the floor and he almost broke the coffee table.

"Shit, man..." He looked like an old man, holding his back and slumping. "Ya didn't have to do that.."

"I know." I smiled.

"...Well... Uh... I think we should go now.. To the football game." Darry said.

"Mkay." I said. "Who's car?"

"We can all pile in my truck." Darry said. Cadi, Soda, Johnny, Pony, Darry, Dally and I got up and went outside. Pony and Johnny got in the front of the truck, and Soda, Cadi, Dally and I got in the back.

It took us about five minutes to get there. We all payed for our tickets and got stamped, so we wouldn't have to pay again if we left. It was almost 7 when we got there. We watched the game for a while, and Two-Bit did look really sexy in his mascot uniform. Steve made two touchdowns, and I was hoping he wouldn't turn into a Soc because of all the fame he's getting from being a football star.

We got bored after a while and went to a lot by a church across the street from the football field. We went back and forth from the fence of the football field, listening to people yell at the guy filming the football game for the news. I was leaning on the fence, when Dally put his arm towards my head and leaned on me. The moonlight was glowing on us, and when Dally moved his head I could see the shadow of the fence on his face.

"Hey." He said.

"Hiya, Dal." I said nicely.

"...You.. You know I still love you... Right...?" He said.

"Erm.. Yeah.. I guess.." I said.

Dally smirked. I shivered. "You cold?" He asked.

"Obviously." I giggled. He leaned in, making the shadow of the fence appear on his face, and kissed me, long and passionatly. I kissed back, though I felt really guilty afterwards. I was thinking if Two-Bit would have seen us do that. How sad he would be, or if he would be happy about it. I knew I loved Dally more than Two-Bit, even though he cheated on me and everything. I didn't know what to do.

I looked around, making sure the gang didn't see anything. They were all across the street, sitting in the lot by the church, huddled in a circle facing away from us. I sighed in relief.

"Uh.. I-.. I'm going to go over there.." I said. I walked away from Dally and sat next to Pony.

"I heard some guys back there we smokin' some pot er somethin' behind the church, man. Some Socs. Someone should go investigate." Soda said, comming back from another group.

"I will." I smiled.

"Are ya sure?" Soda asked.

"Yeah." I said, getting up. I lurked behind the corner sneakily, walking on my tip-toes. I smelled a discusting scent. I walked a little faster, when someone grabbed my shirt sleeve and pulled me into this empty space where the church got skinny, and then it was wider on both sides. There were puke-green colored trash cans and a door and some windows.

The mysterious guy threw me on the ground. I was scared, but decided not to scream or talk at all. He got on top of me, and we moved more into the moonlight. 

Then I saw him. It was Bob Sheldon.

I smelt the horrid smell of heavy liquor and something else that I wasn't quite sure of. "Hey greaser..." He said slyly.

I didn't reply. He quickly removed my shirt. "Ya want me to continue?" He asked.

"N-no..." I said, almost crying.

He seemed to not hear me, or he was just ignoring me. He slid his hand up my bra, then down, and un-latched it. He kissed me from my stomach, then up to my lips. I was crying by then. "I-... I said no.." I said weakly.

He didn't reply again. He removed his shirt, then his pants. Then he unzipped my pants and removed my underwear, then his. I was surprized no one caught him doing this to me. It felt like a year went by before he stopped. He got dressed, smiled, and ran off.

I sat there, alone. I had been raped. I started crying harder. After about two minutes of crying, I finally got up and got dressed. This day was complicated enough - how could I tell everyone about this? I had a solution; I just wouldn't tell them. At least not yet.


End file.
